Trump Doral loses PGA Tour to Mexico City

The Trump National Doral golf course and owner Donald Trump (Credit: Mike Licht)
The Trump National Doral golf course and owner Donald Trump (Credit: Mike Licht)

Trump National Doral has lost a major player: the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour is heading to Mexico City in 2017, according to multiple news sources, with no plans to return to South Florida. Doral has hosted the tournament since 1962.

In a statement, Donald Trump called the move a “sad day for Miami, the United States and the game of golf.”

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told The Miami Herald that the PGA requested the mayor secure $6 million for the tournament or it would announce the switch to Mexico City.

The announcement comes about six months after the PGA responded to Trump’s controversial comments about Mexicans and Muslims, according to the Miami Herald.

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“They’re moving their tournament; it’s the Cadillac World Golf Championship. And Cadillac’s been a great sponsor, but they’re moving it to Mexico. They’re moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance,” Trump said to Fox News on Tuesday.

“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.”

Trump has battled the city and residents of Doral in the past. In March, he filed suit against five residents for allegedly destroying new trees on the property. Trump also sued the city early last year after his golf course had accumulated more than 100 noise violations for maintenance work. The suit claimed Doral’s noise ordinance was too vague, and the city in turn voted on whether or not to revoke the key to the city they gave him that same year. They ultimately voted to let him keep it.

Gimenez said in a statement on Wednesday that the PGA “has been a great partner in Miami-Dade…. It is disappointing to learn that these charitable causes are now left without those valued contributions. What is equally disappointing is that the businesses in the City of Doral, and throughout our county, will no longer have the opportunity to take advantage of a world-class event, and the economic benefits it brings,” he said. [Miami Herald] [ESPN] – Katherine Kallergis