Donald Trump Loses PGA Tournament to Mexico

'It is a sad day for Miami, the United States, and the game of golf'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2016 4:25 PM CDT
Donald Trump Loses PGA Tournament to Mexico
Donald Trump drives himself around the golf course to watch the final round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament in Doral, Fla., last March.   (AP Photo/Luis Alvarez, File)

It turns out Donald Trump was only sort of right. Mexicans aren't taking our jobs; they're taking our golf tournaments. The Miami Herald reports that after 54 years at Florida's Doral resort—owned by Trump since 2012—the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship is packing up its clubs and heading to Mexico City. The annual tournament at Trump National Doral drew some of the sport's biggest names, according to ESPN. But the AP reports trouble started last summer when Trump called illegal immigrants from Mexico "criminals, drug dealers, rapists." Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez tells the Herald the PGA started thinking about relocating the tournament after those comments. The league itself announced it was going to "explore all options" last December after Trump floated the idea of banning Muslim immigrants.

Cadillac pulled out as a sponsor after the most recent tournament in March, though the tournament's chairman says that decision was unrelated to Trump. What was possibly related to Trump was the tournament's inability to find a replacement sponsor. That led to an unfulfilled request from the PGA for $6 million from the city of Miami last week and the tournament's pending move to Mexico City announced Wednesday. “It is a sad day for Miami, the United States, and the game of golf,” the Herald quotes Trump as saying in a statement. Trump, who spent $250 million on improving Doral, accuses the PGA of putting "profit ahead of thousands of American jobs" and says he hopes the league has "kidnapping insurance" in Mexico City. (More Donald Trump stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X