The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) announced late on Sunday night that they have canceled the PGA Championship tournament from being played at one of President Donald Trump’s golf courses.
Jim Richerson, PGA of America President, said in a statement, “The PGA of America Board of Directors voted tonight to exercise the right to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster.”
"The PGA of America Board of Directors voted tonight to exercise the right to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster." — Jim Richerson, PGA of America President
— PGA of America (@PGA) January 11, 2021
The statement comes after Trump held a rally in Washington, D.C., last week as Congress voted to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 election. After the rally, some of those who attended proceeded to riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, which led to the deaths of five people.
Richerson gave a longer statement about why the PGA terminated the contract in a video that the PGA posted to their website.
“The PGA of America is [a] nearly 105-year-old association with a perpetual mission to serve its member golf professionals and to grow the game,” Richerson said in the video. “Fulfilling that mission for all and enabling PGA professionals to do so today and in the future is of paramount importance to the PGA board of directors and our leaders.”
“It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand,” he continued. “It would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver our many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission.”
“Our board has thus made the decision to exercise our right to terminate the contract to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster,” he concluded. “It was a decision made to ensure that PGA of America and the PGA professionals can continue to lead and grow our great game for decades to come. Thank you for your continued support and passion for the game we all love.”
The move by the PGA comes after the president was censored by nearly all social media platforms late last week. Some limited his ability to access his accounts, while others, like Twitter, permanently banned him from being able to be on the site.
Former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah said in an interview last week that she left the administration weeks ago because she saw where things were headed.
“And if we’re really going to look at ourselves and look internally, we need to think about wedding the best of what Trump offered with just fundamentally what our values are,” she said. “The most important thing is that when you do something destructive to our democracy, you lose the right to control the political direction of the party. A woman died because of lies that were spread by the president and those around him. She was a veteran. Political disagreements will persist, but they need to be resolved civilly and peacefully. It’s time to put this political moment behind us.”
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.