PGA Tour strips Donald Trump of WGC

• PGA Tour take WGC event away from Donald Trump’s Doral
• Event will take place at Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City
• “What’s going on here? It is so sad,” said the 69-year-old

The PGA Tour has ended its 53-year association with the Donald Trump-owned Doral resort – with the news that next year’s World Golf Championship will be played at Club de Golf Chapultepec near Mexico City.

The confirmation comes a day after the US presidential candidate said in an interview with Fox News that he’d heard the PGA Tour was changing the venue, a move he wasn’t particularly pleased with.

“I mean, I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico as an example,” said Donald Trump. “They’re moving their tournament, it’s the Cadlillac World Golf Championship, to Mexico.

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“They’re moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance. But they’re moving it to Mexico City. And I’m saying, you know, what’s going on here? It is so sad when you look at what’s going on with our country.”

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Trump bought Doral in 2012 and oversaw a $250m renovation of the resort and famed ‘Blue Monster’ course. In 2013, the Tour signed a new, ten-year agreement with the resort to keep the tournament in Miami.

But that contract included an out clause if the Tour was unable to secure a title sponsor. Cadillac’s sponsorship agreement ended this year and the company now serves as the title sponsor of the WGC-Match Play in Austin, Texas.

According to Tim Rosaforte, the new event will be sponsored by the Grupo Salinas conglomerate.

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In late 2015, the PGA Tour was forced to ‘explore all options’ regarding the event’s future at the Miami venue following Trump’s controversial proposal to bar Muslim immigrants from entering the country.

But Trump was confident Doral wouldn’t be stripped as the host venue, saying: “They do not want to do that. I have the greatest site in all of Florida. If they want to do that, it’s fine with me. I’ll make more money.”

A statement is expected later today from PGA Tour chief Tim Finchem, who will be speaking ahead of the Memorial Tournament.
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PGA Tour :: WGC moved from Donald Trump’s Doral

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