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!