Flashback: When The PGA Tour Left Trump Doral And How It Could Prove To Be An Expensive Mistake

It seems so long ago and now the PGA Tour's nightmare has arrived.

While the PGA of America, R&A and USGA scolded President-elect Donald Trump for some of his divisive comments about immigrants, the two American organizations waited until the election to announce any tournament move. The R&A has punted on an Open at Turnberry, waiting to see how the renovation turned out.

The PGA Tour, where no purse pool must ever be allowed to be lowered because executive bonuses might suffer, chased a mysterious sponsor in Mexico. This meant abandoning the Miami market over preserving WGC status. With the series of moves, they have set up the potential for a contentious relationship with candidate Trump and come January, President Trump living in the White House.

Consider the chain of events: PGA Tour loves renovation of Doral and locks in tour event of some kind at Doral through 2023. An opt-out in 2016 allowed them to leave if no sponsor could be found. Trump calls their bluff.

In June, the PGA Tour announced during the Memorial tournament that they could not find a sponsor at the special $12 million WGC rate, the PGA Tour left Trump Doral and took a staple of the Florida swing to Mexico City.

Here's what I wrote then:

Pick up the big tab for a year to avoid upstaging the Memorial, to avoid a spat with a presidential nominee, to stay in Miami a year and to not set up a dangerous relationship with a man who might be the next President of the United States!

Cadillac refused to re-sign at the pricier WGC rate (approximately $4 million more than a normal sponsorship) and was assumed to not want to be associated with Donald Trump (yet retains a corporate alliance with Trump properties...). Commissioner Tim Finchem said Trump, who parked his helicopter on the course in defiance of the tour, was not the issue initially and said the future president merely needed to be compartmentalized.

Months later Finchem was moving the tour out of the Miami market and on to uncertainty in Mexico City to ensure WGC status and to get away from Trump. Upon hearing that the WGC was headed to Mexico while campaigning, Trump joked about needing kidnapping insurance.

There is much we won't know about what went on behind the scenes, but given the stakes, the PGA Tour is now on the not-so-good side of the next president. Given that some senators have regularly questioned the tour's non-profit stax status, Tim Finchem's quest to maintain World Golf Champioship status for one week of the year and to rid his tour of Donald Trump, could prove to be a very costly decision.