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A US golf championship will not be held at Donald Trump”s golf course after the US president incited his supporters to storm the Capitol.
The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) of America voted four days after the mob stormed the building to withdraw their championship event from Trump’s New Jersey golf course.
This is the second time in just over five years the association has removed one of its events from a Trump course.
PGA President Jim Richerson said the board voted to exercise its right to “terminate the agreement” with Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“We find ourselves in a political situation, not of our making,” Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.
“We’re fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.”
The PGA of America has some 29,000 golf professionals who mostly teach the game and had signed the deal with Trump National in 2014.
It cancelled the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in 2015 at Trump National Los Angeles Golf Club after Trump’s disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants when he announced he was seeking the Republican nomination for president.
The event was cancelled for good the following spring.
The shocking insurrection on Wednesday rattled the US and many questioned whether the PGA of America would keep its premier championship at Trump’s golf course in 2022.
The Trump Organization said in a statement it has “a beautiful partnership with the PGA of America” and that they were “incredibly disappointed with their decision”.
“This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement”, the statement said.
“As an organisation, we have invested many, many millions of dollars in the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster. We will continue to promote the game of golf on every level and remain focused on operating the finest golf courses anywhere in the world.”
Waugh declined to say whether the PGA of America expected any legal challenges from the Trump Organization.
