The Professional Golfers’ Association voted on Sunday to move the 2022 championships from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, following the attacks on the Capitol last week.
“The PGA of America Board of Directors voted tonight to exercise the right to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster,” Jim Richerson, PGA of America president said in a statement.
Holding the tournament at Trump Bedminster, would be “detrimental” to the PGA of America’s brand and put the organization’s ability to function “at risk,” Richerson said.
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“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.”
It is not clear where the tournament will be held next year. But Waugh said finding another location should not be a problem.
“We’ve had a number of places reach out already,” he said. “We think we’ll have a bunch of options.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Trump organization called the move “a breach of a binding contract” adding, “as an organization 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.”
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Before his supporters stormed and ransacked the Capitol on Wednesday, while lawmakers were certifying Biden’s victory, Trump told them a rally that the outcome of the election is an “egregious assault on our democracy,” and urged them to “walk down to the Capitol.”
“We are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” he continued, “and we are probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them — because you will never take back our country with weakness.”
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday shows that a majority of Americans, 67% believes Trump deserves a “good amount” or a “great deal” of blame for the insurrection that left five people dead including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.
