Today, the day after President Donald Trump incited his political supporters to storm the nation’s Capitol building–which they did and is being characterized as an insurrection or coup to disrupt members of Congress from officially recognizing Joe Biden as the duly-elected next president–Trump held a private ceremony awarding three outstanding pro golfers the Presidential Medal of Honor. The golfers were Annika Sorenstam, my friend Gary Player, and deceased Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Sorenstam and Player were present to receive their awards at the White House.
Also today, Golf Digest, for a long time the premier golf magazine, published an online op-ed piece by John Feinstein entitled, “It’s No Longer about Politics: Golf Needs to Distance Itself from Trump.” It begins, “The PGA of America needs to move the 2022 PGA Championship from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. It needs to announce the decision today and make it very clear: We want nothing to do with soon-to-be-former President Donald J. Trump.” Trump owns Bedminster and has played much golf there during his presidency.
Less than six months after Donald Trump became our president, I posted on my blog, “Is Donald Trump Hurting the PGA Tour?” This piece is about the Tour announcing at that time that it was canceling one of its oldest tournaments on the Tour–one of my favorites and which I lost on the last hole by a bare fraction of an inch my first year there–The Doral Open in Miami, Florida. The name of that tournament had been changed because Donald Trump had bought the venue, previously named Doral Resort and Country Club and now renamed Trump National Doral Miami. The Tour was moving the tournament to Mexico City. Ever since, there have been rumors about the PGA Tour and the PGA of America distancing itself from Donald Trump, who by then owned about a dozen of some of the world’s premier golf resorts.
Today’s Golf Digest article further describes yesterday’s assault on our Capitol, “This is no longer a political issue; it is no longer a case of taking a side with one political party or another. This is about a man who encouraged–all but ordered–his supporters to attempt some sort of clumsy coup d’etat on the United States government.” The piece then correctly states that after yesterday’s mob scene, President Trump said of those rioters, We love you. You’re very special.”
The article continues, “this was an attack on the United States of America, and it was incited by the President of the United States. It was unique, historic and terrifying.”
Author Feinstein further states in his article, “If the 2020 election have been confined to the PGA Tour, there’s little doubt that Trump would have won easily. Icons like Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson have vocally supported Trump with great enthusiasm.” Indeed, see my blog piece seven weeks ago about Jack Nicklaus’ Trump endorsement, “Nicklaus Needs a Mulligan.”
Feinstein further alleges, “The sport’s tone-deafness continued Thursday when two of golf’s greatest players–Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam–accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump. The case can be made that Tiger Woods should have declined the award in May 2019 . . . given Trump’s record and policies on race. After what happened Wednesday, thanks to Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat [against Biden], all bets–or acceptance of awards from Trump–should have been off.”
Feinstein further writes, “This can also be a turning point.” He says this because in this piece, he castigates professional golf for not taking a stand regarding Trump’s racism, something the NBA and eventually the NFL did. Feinstein concludes by exhorting pro golf, “Turn away from Donald Trump–the man, not the politician. And make it clear that anyone who incites violence for any reason, in any context in the future, is not welcome in golf.”
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