Not April Fools: Donald Trump Says PGA Tour Moving Longtime Doral Stop To...Mexico City

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If you listened to ShackHouse episode 7, you know I shared the view of several PGA Tour insiders that the longtime Doral stop was soon coming to an end and likely headed to Mexico as a World Golf Championship tournament.

Business Insider picked up the comments, but I've held out on doing a story in hopes of pinning down what city and course is in the running to replace a storied PGA Tour stop.

(Background: The PGA Tour had a long term deal to play events at Doral but they had an out should they not be able to secure a sponsor. With Cadillac done as sponsor of the WGC at Doral, the tour has not been able to find a sponsor and has been planning its exit.)

Now it seems the host at Doral, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, revealed today on Hannity that the tour is taking its annual Miami stop to Mexico City and he hopes they have kidnapping insurance!

Here is the video, followed by a Tweeted transcript with the kidnapping comment.

The quotes:

 

Let's pause for a moment to giggle at the PGA Tour taking an event to Mexico, away from the person who is campaigning on jobs and business being lost to...Mexico or Mexican immigrants.

Now, the serious (golf) issues at hand here:

--The PGA Tour has been going to Miami since at least 1961 and Doral was an important event before being turned into a WGC by Commissioner Tim Finchem. WGC's are costlier to sponsor and therefore prone to be moved, altered and stripped of identity.

--Trump has invested heavily into the resort and course with great results. While he may have intervened in course setup and may have been too high of a profile for the tour or sponsors, the event is seemingly is a great sponsorship opportunity due to its place on the schedule, the status of Trump Doral and the Miami market. Apparently the tour no longer can convince a sponsor of that.

--At a time the PGA Tour is considering opting out of its current TV deal with the networks, it is considering saddling a network with a WGC in a country other than the United States and one that only gives candidate Trump more fodder for one of his key campaign themes. I'm not sure how that creates leverage for the tour, only headaches.

--Instead of just letting the Doral event die and opening up a spot on the schedule, a replacement event is the goal because executive bonuses are tied to playing opportunities. Even when the playing opportunity might be in Mexico City!

--Finchem is possibly positioning the PGA Tour to become a focal point of the presidential campaign as he's preparing to opt-out of a television contract. A wiser commish less-focused on his golden parachute would have had the tour self-sponsor the event for a year to ride out the campaign.

Let the fun begin!

Video: Oakmont 1st And 2nd Holes

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We're off and running to Oakmont Country Club for the U.S. Open and the USGA is again posting flyovers on YouTube. So two holes at a time, here is one of America's great courses, this time as seen from a drone giving us some nice tee perspective to start off, followed by a hole flyover.

I'm not sure there is a tougher starter and certainly no green as difficult to start on as this one:


One of the few birdie opportunities at Oakmont, assuming you hit the fairway and keep it below the hole, the par-4 2nd:

Colonial Win: Spieth's Spectacular Finish

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Two weeks of sleeping in his own bed, hearing the positive vibes from the home crowd and refining his game paid off in spectacular fashion for Jordan Spieth. Oh, and just like his UA counterpart Steph Curry last night, the long range three is back from a mini-vacation. Just in time for the most difficult U.S. Open greens.

Nick Menta with where the win stacks up and other notes for the field.

From John Strege's roundup of Spieth's Dean And Deluca win at Colonial.

“This day is a moment that will go down, no matter what happens in the next 30 years, as one of the most important days I’ve ever had,” he said.

The highlights from PGA Tour Entertainment speak to the patient front nine and back nine outburst that should do wonders for spirts that have been a bit off of late.



The chip in reaction is stellar:


Spieth's post round interview is notable again because he's so at ease for the first time in a while and mentions the tough times of late. From GolfChannel.com: