Doral Country Club, the
golf course Donald Trump bought in 2012 before overseeing its $250 million
redevelopment, has been a PGA Tour venue since 1962. The World Golf Championship,
held each March, carried a most recent prize fund of $9.5 million.
A contract had been
in place to keep the championship in Miami until 2023 but within that stood a
break clause should a new sponsor want a change of venue. Cadillac’s
sponsorship ended this year and Grupo Salinas has agreed to a seven-year deal
to move the tournament to the Chapultepec resort on the outskirts of Mexico
City.
The tournament, which
is one of four pro World Golf Championships events that has been held since
1999, is also being renamed. It will be called the WGC-Mexico Championship and
will be held from March 2-5, 2017.
Cadillac had sponsored
the event since 2011 and the event had been hosted at the course near Miami since
2007.
The move comes six
months after the PGA said it would reevaluate the future of the tournament after
Trump’s controversial comments about Mexicans and Muslims.
In
a statement released Wednesday, Trump called the move “a sad day for Miami,
the United States and the game of golf.”
“I hope they have kidnapping insurance,” Trump told Fox
News on Tuesday,
presumably in reference to Mexico’s high level of kidnappings including that of
a soccer player recently.
Carl Spackler, noted
groundskeeper, could not be reached for comment regarding the gopher situation at
Chapultepec.
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