By Joel Beall
New York City is ending its contracts with the Trump Organisation related to running three entertainment venues, including the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point.

The decision, announced Wednesday morning by the New York City mayor’s office, comes after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 during a joint session of Congress to formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. The assault left five people dead, including Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick.

“The city of New York will not be associated with those unforgivable acts in any shape, way or form,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement, “and we are immediately taking steps to terminate all Trump Organisation contracts.”

The course, designed by Jack Nicklaus’ company and built on a former landfill in the borough of the Bronx at cost of $127 million, opened in 2015. It is known primarily for its views of the Manhattan skyline and sits underneath the shadow of the Whitestone Bridge.

A statement from the mayor’s office on Wednesday noted “in its contract with the Trump Organization to run Ferry Point golf course, the city called for a championship level golf course that would attract major championship events.” Though the course’s design was well-received, it never served as host for any high-profile tournament. Ferry Point also was scrutinized for its greens fees, charging New York residents $185 on the weekends despite its municipalities ties.

While the city’s deals with the Trump Organization for a carousel and ice rinks are expected to close within 30 days, the mayor’s office said “the process for terminating the Ferry Point golf course is more detailed and is expected to take a number of months.”

Eric Trump, son of President Trump and executive vice president of the Trump Organisation, challenged the city’s decision in a statement to New York media outlets.

“Yet another example of Mayor de Blasio’s blatant disregard for the facts. The City of New York has no legal right to end our contracts and if they elect to proceed, they will owe The Trump Organization over $30 million,” the statement said. “This is nothing more than political discrimination, an attempt to infringe on the first amendment and we plan to fight vigorously.”

On Sunday, the PGA of America announced it will move its 2022 PGA Championship from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. The next day, the R&A announced it has no plans for holding any of its championships at Trump Turnberry and will not do so for the foreseeable future.

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By John Huggan
Not since 2009 has the Open Championship been played over the Ailsa links at Turnberry on Scotland’s Ayrshire coast. And the prospects of golf’s oldest major returning anytime soon—long far-fetched given President Donald Trump’s controversial ownership of the resort—now appear even more distant. In the wake of the PGA of America’s decision to move next year’s PGA Championship away from Trump National Bedminster, the R&A has underlined its reluctance to grant what is now Trump Turnberry the opportunity to host the Open for a fifth time.

“We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future,” said Martin Slumbers, R&A chief executive, in a statement. “We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.”

The sites of the Open Championship have already been announced through 2024, Royal St. George’s hosting this summer, followed by the Old Course at St. Andrews, Royal Liverpool and Royal Troon. The earliest then that Turnberry could have conceivably hosted was 2025, although the R&A typically returns to St. Andrews roughly every five years, which would squeeze out any other Scottish courses until closer to the end of the decade.

Trump purchased Turnberry from Leisurecorp in 2014. He attended the last major tournament played over the Ailsa, the 2015 Women’s British Open won by Inbee Park. At the time, that event was run by the Ladies Golf Union. But since 2017, when the LGU merged with the R&A, the championship has, like its male counterpart, fallen under the auspices of the St. Andrews-based organization. So it would seem equally unlikely that Turnberry will host the WBO.

Or that Trump will see Turnberry in the foreseeable future. Just last week, in the wake of rumours that the president was planning to fly to Scotland at the same time as his successor’s Jan. 20 inauguration, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was quick to warn against any such visit.

Sturgeon said that the lockdown travel restrictions currently in place applied to the president as much as anyone else. “We are not allowing people to come into Scotland without an essential purpose right now, and that would apply to him just as it applies to anybody else,” Sturgeon said. “Coming to play golf is not what I consider to be an essential purpose.”

Trump attended the Women’s British Open at Turnberry in 2015 before becoming the president. Getty Images

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of these latest developments is that the Ailsa course is much improved since Stewart Cink defeated Tom Watson in a four-hole playoff for the claret jug 12 years ago. In particular, the revamping by architect Marin Ebert of the ninth, 10th and 11th holes along the shores of the Firth of Clyde and in the shadow of the iconic lighthouse has greatly enhanced what was already one of golf’s most dramatic settings.

Sadly, however, that view will be reserved only for those prepared to pay a green fee that varies between £100 and £500 depending on the time of year. Seemingly as long as the Trump name is attached—the soon-to-be former president also owns the Trump International Golf Links just north of Aberdeen—no one in authority appears willing to play his game.

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By Joel Beall
The PGA of America will no longer be holding the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. The association announced its decision to move the championship on Sunday night.

“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,” said Jim Richerson, president of the PGA of America. “It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminister would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand and would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver on many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission.”

The decision comes after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 during a joint session of Congress to formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory. The assault left five people dead, including Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick. The event has led to growing calls for the PGA of America to distance itself from Trump, who owns the New Jersey course among a portfolio of golf properties.

In an interview with the Associated Press, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh said his organization found itself “in a political situation not of our making.”

“We’re fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that?” Waugh told the AP. “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 awarded its flagship event to Trump Bedminster in May 2014, prior to Trump announcing his bid for the United States presidency. Three years later the course hosted the USGA’s U.S. Women’s Open in 2017, which Trump watched on-site. In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said the group was “extremely disappointed” with the PGA of America’s decision and that the PGA of America is in “breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement.”

“As an organization we have invested many, many millions of dollars in the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster,” said a spokesperson for the Trump Organization. “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.”

This is not the first time the PGA of America has moved a scheduled event at a Trump venue. The PGA of America and Trump mutually decided that the 2015 Grand Slam of Golf should not be held at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles following Trump’s comments on Mexican immigrants at a presidental rally. The event was eventually cancelled after being unable to find a host.

The PGA of America did not announce a new site for the 2022 PGA Championship, but sources tell Golf Digest that Southern Hills is one of the leading candidates. The Tulsa course, recently restored by Gil Hanse, has hosted four PGA Championships, and is scheduled to serve as the venue for the 2030 PGA Championship as well as the 2021 Senior PGA Championship.

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By Daniel Rapaport
A trio of Hall of Fame golfers—Annika Sorenstam, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gary Player—will receive the United States’ highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Thursday from President Donald Trump.

W.L. Pate Jr., president of the Babe Zaharias Foundation, is expected to accept the medal in honour of Zaharias, who died in 1956.

The medal is described as a recognition of “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.” Only four other golfers have received it: Arnold Palmer (2004), Jack Nicklaus (2005), Charlie Sifford (2014) and Tiger Woods (2019). Trump awarded Woods with the medal shortly after he won the 2019 Masters.

The White House announced in March that Sorenstam and Player would receive the honour, but Zaharias is a new addition.

Sorenstam, 50, dominated women’s golf from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The Swede amassed 72 official LPGA Tour wins, including 10 majors, and was named player of the year a record eight times. She stepped away from playing full-time professional golf in 2008 and has since focused on philanthropic and business pursuits.

Zaharias is widely considered one of the finest athletes ever, having won gold medals in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw at the 1932 Olympics—all before she took up golf in 1935, at the age of 24, then became perhaps the greatest woman’s golfer in history. Like Sorenstam, she won 10 major championships and completed the Grand Slam in 1950, winning all three women’s majors at the time. She holds the distinction as the only woman ever to make a cut in a PGA Tour event, which she did three times.

Known as the “Black Knight” for his penchant for wearing all black, Player was one-third of golf’s “Big Three” alongside Nicklaus and Palmer. The South African is one of five players ever to complete the career Grand Slam by winning all four men’s majors, and he is the only non-American to have done so. He won 160 tournaments worldwide, including nine majors, and since his retirement he has remained an active presence in the game. He has designed over 400 golf courses worldwide and is the founder of the Player Foundation, which seeks to provide underprivileged children with access to education.

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The course will be constructed next to the original Trump International resort north of Aberdeen. It will be named after Trump’s mother Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born and brought up on the Hebridean island of Lewis before emigrating to New York.

Local officials had approved the plans last fall. The decision was met with protest from environmentalists who claim Trump International has damaged the dunes system at nearby Foveran Links, an official site of special scientific interest.

However, the approval by the Aberdeen council is expected to be final.

Along with Trump International, Trump’s golf organisation also owns the Turnberry resort in Scotland.

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By John Feinstein
Several years ago, I was standing on the practice range at a golf tournament talking to then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who worked for President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale, before he got involved in golf.

“Better not stand too close,” Finchem said with a smile. “If you do, someone can get both Democrats who are part of golf with one shot.”

Finchem was exaggerating—but not by much. The number of professional golfers who identify as Democrats is pretty close to the number of players in the game’s history who have won double-digit major championships. (For the record, that number is three.)

I thought about that on Sunday as I watched Jim Herman battle Billy Horschel down the stretch at the Wyndham Championship. I’d never root against Horschel, who is one of the tour’s good guys. But I couldn’t help but feel myself wanting Herman to win because he needed to win a lot more than Horschel did.

Herman had entered the tournament in Greensboro 192nd on the FedEx Cup points list, miles away from being one of the top 125 who would qualify for this week’s first round of the playoffs. He had struggled all year, making just seven of 18 cuts and, at 42, he had to be wondering just a little bit how much longer he was going to be able to play competitively.

Herman once worked for President Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. He has played frequently with Trump—both before and after he became president—and talks often about how much Trump has encouraged him about his golf career through the years.

Herman is very much a Trump supporter. I am, if you haven’t already guessed, very much not.

And yet Herman and I get along very well. I remember a lengthy locker-room conversation with him shortly after he won for the first time on tour, in Houston in the spring of 2016. He was my kind of story: a grinder who had won for the first time at the age of 38 and had come a long way from giving lessons at Trump National. He was bright, funny, clearly devoted to his family. The kind of player I’d like to write about and have a beer with.

In many ways, Herman is a perfect example in these polarized times of not being defined by politics. This is a lesson I’ve learned through the years covering golf: We can all put politics aside, even now.

One of the first events I covered while researching A Good Walk Spoiled was the 1993 Ryder Cup. That was the year when President Bill Clinton invited the American team to visit the White House before the players boarded the Concorde to fly to England. Several players balked at going. The captain was Tom Watson, about as dyed-in-the-wool Republican as there is on planet Earth. He told the players, “We’re going over there to represent the United States. Bill Clinton is the president and the First Golfer. We’re going.”

They went.

A few weeks later, after the U.S. team had won the matches at The Belfry (the last American win overseas), I asked Davis Love III why so many members of the team had balked at going to the White House. You won’t meet a more reasonable human being than Love. His answer, though, was direct.

“If it had been President [George H.W.] Bush, who we all respect, it would have been different,” he said. “But after Clinton lied about raising our taxes, we weren’t that eager to meet him.”

In fact, Clinton had promised to raise taxes on anyone making more than $200,000 a year, and had done so. When I pointed this out to Davis, he shrugged and said, “Whatever.”

Athletes voting their wallets is hardly unique to golf. When Charles Barkley informed his mother years ago that he was thinking of running for governor of Alabama as a Republican, his mother said, “But Charles, Republicans are people who always want to pay less taxes.”

“Mama,” Barkley replied, “that’s me.”

Phil Mickelson once made the point to me that I mislabeled him when I called him conservative. “I’m really pretty liberal on most issues,” he said.

“But your No. 1 issue is how much you pay in taxes,” I said.

He smiled and said, “Oh, no, that isn’t my No. 1 issue—it’s No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and maybe 5.”

I gave him credit for being honest.

Most golfers—and most successful professional athletes—are like Mickelson. If you propose lowering their taxes, they like you. If you propose raising them, not so much. Many athletes don’t even bother to vote. When I was researching A Good Walk Spoiled, I asked Billy Andrade if he was a registered Republican or a registered Democrat.

“I’m not registered,” Billy answered. “I don’t want to get called for jury duty.”

When I asked his wife, Jody, very much a Democrat, why she didn’t insist that he register, she shrugged and said, “If he registered, he’d just vote Republican anyway, so I don’t push him.”

Jody Andrade eventually talked her husband into registering. He’s now one of golf’s few Democrats. David Duval gave money to Barack Obama, and Paul Goydos, a former schoolteacher, is also a Democrat.

In 1994, I was at dinner during Doral week with Watson, Goydos, the late John Morris (who was then the tour’s director of public relations) and several other writers. Watson began railing against people on welfare, saying they should all be working. Goydos, who was in awe of being at the same table with Watson, finally spoke up.

“You know, Tom, I knew a lot of the families you’re talking about when I was teaching,” he said. “Are there welfare cheats? Sure. Just like there are Wall Street cheats. But most of the people I knew wanted to work, didn’t want to be on welfare—in fact, hated the idea of being on welfare.”

Watson listened to Goydos, and they then engaged in a lively but not-rancorous conversation. Two years later, when Goydos won at Bay Hill, his first PGA Tour win, I ran into Watson that night.

“I saw you walking up 18 with your boy,” Watson said. (Everyone on tour called Goydos “my boy” back then.) “I thought about that dinner at Doral, and I was really glad he won. We need more people like him out here—thoughtful, smart.” He paused and smiled. “Even when they’re wrong.”

Everyone knows that Bruce Edwards was Watson’s caddie for most of 30 years until the dreaded disease ALS killed Bruce in 2004. Tom and Bruce argued politics often—specifically the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms), which Watson is very much for. Bruce was very much opposed to it. Since Bruce’s death, Neil Oxman, who runs political campaigns for Democrats, has often caddied for Watson. They are almost as close as Tom and Bruce were.

“We don’t talk politics,” Oxman likes to say. “When we do, I don’t listen to him, and he doesn’t listen to me. It works well.”

Tom and I have run a charity golf tournament in Bruce’s name to raise money for ALS research since 2005. Last year, when Tom came to Washington for what we both fondly call The Bruce, he spent Sunday on a golf course with Donald Trump.

The next morning at breakfast, we talked about his beloved Kansas City Chiefs and my beleaguered New York Jets. Then we went to work raising money for a cause we both believe in deeply.

Watson and Jim Herman will vote one way in November; I will vote differently. And I hope I’ll have lots to talk about with them when the election’s over, regardless of the outcome.

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By Keely Levins
Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player are joining the shortlist of golfers who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The White House announced on Friday that Sorenstam, a 10-time major winner on the LPGA Tour, and Player, one of only five players to win the men’s career Grand Slam, will be honoured on March 23 by President Donald Trump.

“It is an overwhelming feeling. I am grateful, I am humbled, I am moved, and I am blessed,” Sorenstam said in a tweet.

Sorenstam, 49, a native of Sweden, is the first female golfer to be a recipient, as well as the first female who is a naturalized citizen to receive the honour. Player, from South Africa, joins other members of golf’s “Big Three,” Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. The other golfers to receive the honour are Tiger Woods and Charlie Sifford. Woods received his Medal of Freedom from President Trump in April 2019.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest honour a civilian can receive. The White House explains honorees as having “made exceptional contributions to the security or national interests of America, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.”

Sorenstam dominated the LPGA Tour in the late 1990s and early 2000s, winning 72 times, before retiring in 2008. In 2003, she made history by becoming the first woman since 1945 to play in a PGA Tour event, the Bank of America Colonial.

Sorenstam became a citizen of the United States in 2006, and during retirement, she has put her efforts towards the Annika Foundation, which, along with creating golf opportunities for young women, has goals to promote a healthy lifestyle, education and community.

Christian Petersen

Player, 84, won 24 times on the PGA Tour, nine of those coming in majors. He, too, started a foundation: the Player Foundation, which works to raise funds for underprivileged children.

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The White House press pool initially reported the pairing at Trump National Jupiter, with President Trump confirming his Saturday golf date with Nicklaus and Woods on his personal Twitter account.

Nicklaus, who designed Trump National Jupiter, is a frequent partner of Trump’s, and endorsed the real-estate magnate during the 2016 presidential campaign.

This is the second known time that Woods has played with Trump since Trump was elected, the first coming in a post-Christmas round in 2017.

Great morning at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida with @JackNicklaus and @TigerWoods! pic.twitter.com/mdPN4yvS8e

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2019

Last summer Woods—whose foundation helps serve at-risk youth—was asked to comment on Trump’s anti-immigration policies, ones that have separated children from their families at the border.

“He’s the President of the United States,” Woods said at the Northern Trust. “You have to respect the office. No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office.”

Woods, who made his first start of 2019 at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open, will return in two weeks at the Genesis Open at Riviera.

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By Sam Weinman
What to make of Tiger Woods’ brief utterances about President Trump following his final round in the Northern Trust? It has all the makings of a juicy story—the world’s most popular athlete, its most polarizing leader. Depending on which side of the political spectrum you occupy, it could be chopped up and digested any number of different ways, as the president himself has already proven.

The Fake News Media worked hard to get Tiger Woods to say something that he didn’t want to say. Tiger wouldn’t play the game – he is very smart. More importantly, he is playing great golf again!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2018

The full exchange, with a New York Times reporter, was barely a minute long. Asked about his relationship with Trump, Woods reflected on their history playing together (including most recently last Thanksgiving weekend): “We’ve played golf together. We’ve had dinner together. I’ve known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency.”

Then Woods was asked about whether his relationship with Trump was an implicit endorsement of Trump’s policies toward immigrants and people of color? Treading cautiously, Woods said he felt compelled to respect the office. “He’s the President of the United States. You have to respect the office,” he said. “No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office.”

Lastly, Woods was given the opportunity to comment broadly on Trump and the state of race relations in the U.S. In characteristic fashion, Woods punted. “No,” he said. “I just finished 72 holes and (am) really hungry.”

That was it. A few more questions followed—on tournament winner Bryson DeChambeau, on next week’s tournament in Boston, on the upcoming Ryder Cup—and then he was gone. For those keeping score, Woods’ three answers about Trump, immigration, and race relations—all topics that will surely fill shelves of libraries one day — amounted to 71 words. Asked about DeChambeau’s approach to biomechanics, he blew well past that mark without even trying.

And therein lies the real lesson from Sunday in New Jersey: In even the best of circumstances, Tiger Woods doesn’t say much. Give him a comfortable chair, air conditioning, and a bottle of water, and he’s still likely to skate around the periphery of anything even remotely controversial (asked in 2002 about Augusta National’s then all-male membership, Woods said the club was “entitled to set up their own rules the way they want them”). Put him in a scrum of reporters minutes after shooting one-under par in midday summer heat, and you get 71 stilted words that could roughly be translated as “I really don’t want to talk about this.” Even as other athletes at the height of their sport have ventured into choppy political waters, Woods, be it out of self preservation or genuine indifference, has remained comfortably on shore.

It’s worth debating whether that’s understandable or regrettable given Woods’ stature and influence. Woods has indeed emerged as a more sympathetic and approachable figure in this latest chapter of his career. But to have expected anything else from his answer Sunday is to not have been paying attention.

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