Jan. 11 (UPI) — PGA of America announced it has canceled its plans to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at outgoing President Donald Trump‘s New Jersey golf course after his supporters stormed the Capitol last week.
In a statement, PGA of America President Jim Richerson said the board Sunday night decided to “exercise its right” to terminate its agreement to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster.
“It’s become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand, it would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver our many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission,” Richerson said in a video statement. “It was a decision made to ensure the PGA of America and the PGA professionals can continue to lead and grow our great game for decades to come.”
The decision to pull Trump Bedminster as its hosting site followed the president’s supporters storming the Capitol building on Wednesday, resulting in at least five deaths, including that of Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who died of injuries sustained in the assault, and of Ashli Babbit, a woman who was shot and killed by authorities after breaching the building.
In response, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told ABC News that the PGA board was breaching its agreement, which has “no right to terminate.”
“As an organization we have invested many, many millions of dollars in the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
The decision by the PGA of America is not the first time a major golfing event was relocated from a property own by Trump, who is an avid golfer.
In 2016, the PGA Tour moved its World Golf Championship from Florida’s Trump National Doral to Mexico City after the presidential candidate made inflammatory comments about Mexicans and immigrants.
