Outgoing WGC-Cadillac Championship Chair Butch Buchholz confirmed this morning that the PGA Tour is "moving the event from Doral to Mexico City," according to Jackson & Neal of the MIAMI HERALD. Buchholz said that the Tour told him last night that it "decided to leave South Florida because it couldn’t find a title sponsor to replace Cadillac." He said, "I believe they are sincere when they said they didn't want to leave an event with a 54 year history. They've got an obligation to their board and they couldn't find a sponsor so they had to move. ... The PGA Tour didn't have a choice. If you don't have a sponsor what can you do?” An official announcement will come this afternoon. Jackson & Neal note the Tour in December indicated it would "explore all options regarding the event’s future" in the wake of Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants from entering the U.S. Trump in '12 bought the event's host resort, which was renamed Trump National Doral Miami. Buchholz did not know whether Trump’s comments were the reason why the Tour "was unable to find a sponsor to replace Cadillac, which informed the tour a year ago that it would not renew." Buchholz: "Cadillac was going to leave. It had nothing to do with Trump" (MIAMIHERALD.com, 6/1).
PASSPORT REQUIRED: Trump last night while appearing on Fox News' "Hannity" to discuss his plan to return jobs to the U.S. from China and Mexico first alluded to the tournament's future. He said, "It's the Cadillac World Golf Championship, and Cadillac's been a great sponsor. But they are moving it to Mexico. ... I hope they have kidnapping insurance" ("Hannity," Fox News, 5/31). GOLFCHANNEL.com's Will Gray notes the Tour in '13 "signed a new, 10-year agreement with the resort to keep the tournament in Miami." The deal "included an out clause should the Tour be unable to secure a title sponsor for the event." Doral has seen "many iterations over the years, but it has remained a staple of the PGA Tour schedule" since '61. Trump since acquiring the course has overseen a $250M "renovation of the resort and famed 'Blue Monster' course" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 6/1).
LOSING ITS LOCAL TIES: Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte said the Doral stop has "become more of a corporate tournament than it is a local tournament" in recent years. Rosaforte: "I don’t want to say South Florida won’t miss this golf tournament, but it certainly has not supported it the way it did in the past, and for a lot of reasons. One is it’s more expensive now than it used to be. ... We’ll still certainly miss it because it has become such an institution on the PGA Tour schedule. It’s iconic, especially that 18th hole and the golf course itself, both pre-Trump and post-Trump” (“Morning Drive,” Golf Channel, 6/1).
