PGA Tour to move tournament from Trump Doral to Mexico City
— -- DUBLIN, Ohio -- The longtime PGA Tour event at Miami's Trump Doral resort is leaving South Florida and heading to Mexico City in 2017, with an official announcement scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the Memorial Tournament.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is expected to announce the details of the move from Doral, which has been the site of a PGA Tour event since 1962. Adam Scott won the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March at Doral, where the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper, Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson all have won.
Cadillac did not renew its sponsorship of the World Golf Championship event and the PGA Tour had been in the process of trying to find a replacement.
Butch Buchholz, the event's chairman, told The Miami Herald that he was informed of the move by the PGA Tour on Tuesday night.
"I believe they are sincere when they said they didn't want to leave an event with a 54-year history,'' Buchholz said. "They've got an obligation to their board and they couldn't find a sponsor, so they had to move. They don't have a choice. [The PGA Tour] didn't have a choice. If you don't have a sponsor what can you do?''
The resort's owner, Donald Trump, said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday night that the move was occurring.
"I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico," Trump said. "It's at Doral ... they used one of my places. They're moving their tournament; it's the Cadillac World Golf Championship. And Cadillac's been a great sponsor, but they're moving it to Mexico. They're moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance.
"But they're moving it to Mexico City. And I'm saying, you know, what's going on here? It is so sad when you look at what's going on with our country."
In a statement released on Wednesday, Trump said: "It is a sad day for Miami, the United States and the game of golf, to have the PGA Tour consider moving the World Golf Championships, which has been hosted in Miami for the last 55 years, to Mexico."
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate who has numerous golf course interests, has pumped millions of dollars into a resort refurbishment since taking over Doral in 2012.
It is unclear whether his politically charged comments on the campaign trail had any impact on the move. In January, the PGA Tour pledged its commitment to the tournament and Miami but said it would review the future upon completion of the March event.
In 2013, the PGA Tour announced a 10-year contract extension with Trump National Doral through the 2023 event. But that deal was contingent upon title sponsorship, and with Cadillac's run over, the tournament's future was in question in Miami.