Roll up, roll up! Golf awaits Trump circus
US Women’s Open next week at President’s own course is poised to be another fiasco, writes
The onus will fall on the players to address moral concerns the authorities shy away from
It has been an impressive build-up by the protesters, audaciously taking a few practice swings at last week’s US Open in readiness for next week’s main challenge, the US Women’s Open at Trump National.
Last weekend, women’s group Ultraviolet flew a banner over Erin Hills which read: “USGA: Take a Mulligan. Dump Trump.” And as the activists cannot seriously anticipate the governing body switching venues at such a late juncture, they are busy preparing to make their fury seen and heard at Bedminster, New Jersey.
So, get ready for the President Trump circus to swallow up another women’s major.
Mike Davis, the United States Golf Association executive director, who is usually to “no comment” what Dustin Johnson is to three-hour monologues, already has his sound bite written. “The USGA has never been involved with politics – our focus is solely on the game of golf,” he has said and, no doubt, will repeat over and over.
It is a cute little line, which, naturally enough, considering the social story of the United States in the past century, ignores a few incidents. Say, in 1959 at Congressional, when Ann Gregory was the only player banned from the traditional dinner on the eve of the US Women’s Amateur Championship, on account of being an African-american.
John Dey, a predecessor of Davis, was obliged to tell Gregory the news and was clearly not happy at the club’s stance. But the dinner went ahead anyway.
Yes, the USGA is well aware that sometimes it is impossible for sport “never to be involved” with politics. And the forthcoming week will be one of them.
It has to be, because this course is one of Trump’s favourite getaways from the White House and, as a result, has been described as “Camp David North”.
The question is whether the President will arrive in person to hijack the tournament, as he did at the 2015 Women’s British Open at “Trump” Turnberry, when he was on his campaign trail.
Davis will pray not, but will carry on trotting out his line regardless, because he knows he cannot be dragged into the debate on whether the US Women’s Open should be played on a course whose owner once bragged about grabbing women “by the p---y”.
Instead, the onus will fall on the players to address the moral concerns from which the authorities shy away. That is a disgrace.
At Turnberry, Lizette Salas, the daughter of two Mexican immigrants, was mobbed by news crews. She was there to compete, not to defend her heritage against Trump, but as soon as that helicopter whirred into view, it was inevitable she would be hounded. Salas has admitted it affected her golf that week, and we can only hope it will not do so again.
As it is, the vast majority of the Americans in the field will have voted for the President and will support him in the face of the anger at the gates. In fairness to the female pros, they are asked to play in competitions sponsored by governments in such human-rights bastions as Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai and China.
And the last time the players looked, Trump had yet to imprison a woman for reporting a rape. So it could be considered hypocritical for them now to voice objections.
Yet that will not stop the furore, and that will not prevent the US Women’s Open degenerating into the latest Trump show.
He will grab them by the five-irons and overshadow the whole thing. Perhaps the USGA should have thought about this before he was elected.