The R&A slashed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s dream of hosting the Open championship at Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland because of controversial statements the businessman made regarding Muslims, Mexicans, and others.
In September, Peter Dawson on his last day as chief executive of R&A asserted that it is “absurd” that “something somebody said on the political trail in America” would affect the British Open rotation. “We have other priorities,” the executive claimed, “but that’s for a future committee to judge.”
According to the Independent, Trump’s call for a temporary closing of U.S. borders to all Muslims, until “our country’s representatives figure out what’s going on,” proved a tipping point for the R&A. Previously the GOP frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race outraged many when he characterized some illegal immigrants crossing the U.S. southern border as “murderers” and “rapists.”
Like Trump, the R&A champions exclusivity. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the 261-year-old institution at St. Andrews that gives the international governing body its name, admitted its first woman earlier this year. When R&A gave its blessing to the playing of the 2015 British Open at St. Andrews, the club lacked a single female member.
The PGA admonished the billionaire over the summer by pulling the Grand Slam of Golf from Trump National Golf Course in Los Angeles. Moreover, along with NASCAR cancelling their season-ending awards ceremony at Trump National Doral in Florida, ESPN moved its ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic from Trump’s Los Angeles course to nearby Pelican Hill. “Diversity and inclusion are core values at ESPN and our decision also supports that commitment,” ESPN announced.
Tump’s Muslim remarks touched a nerve in Dubai and Saudi Arabia as well. Damac real estate company, currently constructing an enormous golf complex, recently ripped the Trump name from the project.
Breitbart News reported Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal excoriated Trump as a “disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America,” and called for his withdrawal from the U.S. presidential race.
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