Trump, at odds with LPGA exec, says Women's British Open could move
Business magnate and presidential candidate Donald Trump has offered LPGA commissioner Mike Whan a chance to relocate this month's Ricoh Women's British Open from Trump Turnberry in Scotland.
In a three-page letter dated July 13 and addressed to Whan at the LPGA's headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla., Trump said he is willing to allow the July 30-Aug. 2 event to move after he took offense at Whan's response to Trump's recent political statements.
In his June 16 bid for the Republican nomination for president, Trump assailed U.S. border security and made derogatory comments toward Mexicans who immigrate illegally. In response to Trump's subsequent comments about the golf industry "knowing he is right," the LPGA joined golf's main governing bodies and tours in the U.S. in seeking to distance themselves from the billionaire developer, who hosts key tournaments at some of his 17 golf-course properties.
Trump writes that Whan has done "an extraordinary disservice to women's golf, but in no way will that diminish my respect for the women on the LPGA tour or their great golfing talent."
Trump asks that Whan contact him to discuss terms of the contract.
The Women's British Open is administered by the Ladies' Golf Union of Britain and co-sanctioned by the LPGA.
At the end of his letter, a copy of which was obtained by Golfweek, Trump listed recent opinion polls in which he rates first or second among GOP candidates.
Read the entire letter here.
A message left with the LPGA was not immediately returned.
In recent days, many U.S. businesses severed ties with Trump, and golf's four ruling U.S. bodies -- PGA of America, PGA Tour, U.S. Golf Association and LPGA -- subsequently were drawn into the fray.
The PGA of America, which had signed a four-year deal with Trump to play the annual Grand Slam of Golf at Trump National Los Angeles, announced that it would move the 2015 edition to an undisclosed course, without elaborating on the 2016-18 events. The PGA also has two coming major championships scheduled at Trump properties: the 2017 Senior PGA at Trump National in Potomac Falls, Va., and the 2022 PGA at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey.
On the PGA Tour each March, the WGC-Cadillac Championship visits Trump National Doral near Miami, and the Puerto Rico Open is held at Trump International Golf Club. Also, the Barclays Championship, the first event in the FedEx Cup playoffs each fall, will be staged in 2017 at Trump Golf Links Ferry Point in Bronx, N.Y.
The USGA is under contract to take the 2017 U.S. Women's Open to Trump National Bedminster.
Excluding this year's Grand Slam of Golf, which matches the year's major champions in a 36-hole exhibition, no other tournament administered by golf's U.S. bodies has moved from a Trump course.
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