USGA On Trump: "We're Evaluating"

I'm just getting around to today's Trump reading and all signs point to the golf v. Donald matter not really subsiding.

Randall Mell on the USGA Thursday press conference at Lancaster CC during the U.S. Women's Open where Executive Director Mike Davis was asked about the controversial host of the 2017 U.S. Women's Open.

“I can’t speak for the other golf organizations, but I can for the USGA say that we have not wanted to get involved in politics, presidential politics, but at the same time we are about diversity, about inclusion, about growing the game,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said Thursday at the U.S. Women’s Open. “We are evaluating things, and at this point that’s all we can say.”

With Trump Bedminster just down the street from Golf House, there's no telling how much needs to be sorted out here. Oh, the joys of neighborship!

Bradley Klein considers the Trump golf brand and how the unraveling of golf v. Trump impacts the cache built up of late.

That brand is now two-fold: in the form of marketing and of a recognizable aesthetic. By putting his name on each of his 17 properties, he has unavoidably, and in fact quite systematically, created a unique mode of consumer identification with his product. No one else has done that in golf course development. Not in such personal terms.

And James Corrigan of The Telegraph warns that golf might want to be careful in cutting ties to Trump and opening up other worm cans.

But what should the R&A do about keeping Trump Turnberry on the Open roster?

My advice would be nothing. After all, Royal Troon may be having a review into their membership policy but next year’s Open venue still does not allow women to be members. Neither does Muirfield.

Meanwhile, many of the sponsors which keep the sport awash in greenbacks could hardly be said to be squeaky clean. Golf should stay away from the high ground for a while yet. Otherwise that tremendously infectious disease called hypocrisy could pour across its borders.

Trump! What Will The Golf Bodies Do Next?

Brendan Prunty's New York Times story quotes The Donald, who is not backing down in the face of losing the Grand Slam of Golf at Trump National. 

From Tuesday's story:

 “I’ve been very loyal to golf,” Trump said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “I own 17 clubs. They all do great. We will see whether or not golf is loyal to me.”

Former PGA President Ted Bishop noted his lack of surprise that the PGA stopped at the Grand Slam.

“I think a lot of people are surprised that it wasn’t all or nothing,” said the former P.G.A. of America president Ted Bishop. “I don’t know what kind of statement the P.G.A. of America makes by saying, ‘We’re not going to do this for one year, but we’re going to go back for all these others.’ ”

Which leaves us with the future and also questions now about why golf got so heavily invested in Trump properties knowing the man's proclivity to generate controversy.

Alex Miceli reveals in Golfweek that the previous PGA of America regime was not interested in working with Trump, but that changed with the Bevacqua and Bishop.

“When Pete came to me about Trump, I was 100 percent in favor of working with him,” said Bishop, recalling the beginnings of the relationship. “Under former CEO Joe Steranka, the PGA was not interested in working with Trump. It was just a non-starter with Joe.”

For his part, Steranka, who retired in 2012 and now leads the charitable arm of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic, was unwilling to discuss his dealings with Trump.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Steranka said from his office in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. "The PGA is sorting through this, and looking back about what was going on when I was there doesn’t address today’s things they have to focus on.”

Up next and much grander on the big ticket item list: what happens to the 2017 U.S. Women's Open at Trump Bedminster, the 2022 PGA at the same venue, and of course, rumored Scottish Open's at Trump International or Open Championship at Turnberry.

NY Times: Trump Name Sullying Ferry Point's U.S. Open Chance

As Donald Trump digs in with rapist slurs directed at immigrants despite losing several business partnerships and receiving a light scolding from four of golf's five ruling families, the NY Times' Ginia Bellafante considers Trump Ferry Point, public-private partnerships and the backlash to Donald Trump.

Bellafante writes:

But how likely is it now that the United States Open, so dependent on corporate sponsorships, will be scheduled on a public course named for someone who said he is committed to building a wall at the Mexican border to keep out drug dealers and “rapists”? Although you could argue that none of his comments could have been anticipated, getting blindsided by craziness from Mr. Trump is like landing at a monastery only to be surprised that it’s quiet.

A day after Mr. Trump told the Golf Channel that he had “tremendous support from the golf world because they all know I’m right,” the country’s major professional golf associations issued a joint statement saying, “Mr. Trump’s comments are inconsistent with our strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming environment in the game of golf.”

That followed the move on the part of NBC Universal to sever ties with Mr. Trump on his television projects and an announcement from the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that it would no longer consider Trump hotels as sites for two conventions next year that make up the largest meetings of Hispanic business leaders in the country.

“He has no idea what’s coming,” the organization’s president, Javier Palomarez, told me. “The Hispanic community is really galvanized around this.”

Fortune's Daniel Roberts dredges up Trump's February comments suggesting that golf should be more aspirational than inclusive, something he's stated on many occasions. Though I've always found those comments to be more anti-Grow-The-Game initiative driven than anything sinister suggesting a hatred of the poor.

Still, with the upcoming presidential campaign likely centering on income inequality, the comments will get plenty of play.

But more problematic in the short term for Trump or paragraphs like this:

Attention could soon turn to some of Trump’s golf partners, including the PGA and Cadillac. The PGA entered into an official partnership with Trump last year. Cadillac is not a Trump sponsor but has naming rights to the WGC-Cadillac tournament, which was held this year at Trump National Doral, his course in Miami. Cadillac has a huge operation in Mexico: The Cadillac SRX is made there and accounts for some 40% of Cadillac’s U.S. sales. Cadillac had no comment for this story.