Trump In 2022 Official! Now The Fun Begins? Or...

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Will the game regret such a close identification with such a polarizing figure? Judging from your comments in various threads over recent days, it's an either/or situation for most. My feelings are mixed, as I see the efforts he's making to turn around properties. And then there's his Twitter feed.

Anyway, Doug Ferguson's AP story on Trump Bedminster receiving the 2022 PGA Championship, first reported here.

Ron Whitten calls Trump the Master of the Universe or at least the golf one, and reveals some interesting details about the Turnberry purchase along with Trump's purchasing method.

I suggested to him that most financial analysts must think he's nuts, buying into golf at the time of a bear market. "Yeah, but I'm buying into a bear market at really good prices," he said. Indeed, he picked up the Kluge Estate in Virginia from bankruptcy and other golf courses he's acquired in recent years, including Doral, were distressed properties.

I then asked him if he were concerned that he might be overextending himself.  "Listen, my primary business is real estate, not golf," he said. "I also have a tremendous business in television. I buy these golf courses out of cash flow. None of them have any mortgages."

James Corrigan took the angle that Trump's a good thing for major championships because the folks in Dubai currently associated with Turnberry are not fans of human rights, though in the above Whitten item Trump suggests the Dubai money sold it to him because of their close business ties (Trump has a management deal with a project in Dubai).

It’s a simple gameplan for which golf should be very thankful. The game does not need quality courses descending into disrepair. Doonbeg, his £12m acquisition, in Co Clare, Ireland, will be the latest to benefit from his big vision, if and when he wins planning consent.

Yes, Turnberry will no longer be owned by an oil-rich country with a somewhat dubious history of human rights, but by an individual who, the last time I looked, has never outlawed homosexuality or been castigated by multiple international agencies for his wretched treatment of migrant workers.

As far as I can deduce, Trump has yet to imprison a woman for reporting a rape. Yet he does have a funny comb-over.

But there is that Twitter account...

Brendan Porath takes the view that some outside of golf see when they hear the Trump name.

That an old rich guy, who's a blustering buffoon and has spent a lot of time shouting about the President's birth certificate, now sits in such a prominent spot in the sport is probably not great PR for the overall approach of inclusiveness and growth of the game. It's good for the most exclusive and elite courses and resorts, some of which were in danger of being lost. But in toto, having Trump as a new major face of golf doesn't seem desirable for the larger masses the sport is trying to attract.

The PGA of America, meanwhile seems more interested in the quality of Trump Bedminster and its location near New York City. Hank Gola looks more closely at the Old Course hosting the PGA and includes this:

"The conversation starts and ends with the golf course," PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua said. "We have to take the PGA Championship, one of golf's majors, to really only the best golf courses in this country. That's the first critical point. Is the golf course worthy? And that discussion as it related to Trump Bedminster was an easy discussion. It's a phenomenal property, a championship caliber golf course with an unbelievable amount of room for the operational requirements and with the added bonus it's in a major market. To be able to bring a major championship to the metropolitan area with the infrastructure, the hotels, the excitement that it generates in terms of spectators, when you start to line up those pieces, it becomes an easy decision."

Video from the announcement: