We've All Been Trumped

Well, that was quick...

No sooner was I on record in my "Not So Fast" posts about Trump hosting a major comes news that The Donald will be hosting a major.  Mind you, not any of three as predicted by Shackelford...  So I was correct in all aspects of my defenestration of Shack's post, yet wrong where it mattered.

Posting at The Loop, Geoff informs us that Trump Bedminster will be awarded the 2022 PGA Championship, to be announced at an 11:00 joint press conference.  

Trump National Bedminster, less than six miles from USGA headquarters and host to the 2017 U.S. Women's Open, has agreed to host the 2022 PGA Championship according to multiple sources with knowledge of Thursday's scheduled press conference.

Trump National Bedminster was thought to be in the running for a U.S. Open after it had the chance to showcase itself during Women's Open week in 2017. Sources, however, say that the USGA is more intrigued by Trump Ferry Point, a course still in development in the Bronx designed by Jack Nicklaus and to be managed by Trump's company. The city-owned Ferry Point, set to open in spring 2015, has a price tag of $236 million, according to a recent unbylined New York Daily News story.

I was skeptical that the USGA was truly interested in sharing the stage with Trump, and I take this news as confirmation of that assessment.  Trump desperately desires the validation of a U.S. Open, and likely wouldn't have taken the PGA if he was optimistic about his chances.

The Ferry Point speculation is new to me, and seems quite improbable at first blush.  My knowledge of it is limited to my trips across the Whitestone Bridge en route to Utah, but it would be quite the logistically-challenged Open.  Given the difficult location of the site, I'm guessing that's more of a red herring than realistic speculation, especially as the USGA has no shortage of New York area venues in play.  

Ron Whitten absorbs this latest news and concludes that Trump is the Master of the Golf Universe:

Forget Jack and Arnie, Tiger and Phil. The Master of the Golf Universe is now Donald Trump. I came to that realization during an extended telephone conversation with the man on Tuesday.

Trump was telling me how he'd just closed on the purchase of the famed Turnberry Resort in Scotland the previous evening. "It really wasn't on the market," he said, "but I made [resort owner] Leisurecorp a very attractive offer."

The reality is that the game of golf has not grown, and you'd be hard-pressed to identify other buyers for these types of high-end properties.  Where there is activity, think Mike Keiser, Cabot Links and Streamsong, it's aimed at creating interesting venues for the everyday player.  Trump's ego can only be sated by owning courses capable of hosting professional tournaments, preferably majors.  But in many of these cases, such as his Aberdeen course and the revised Doral, early reports speak of excessively-difficult tracks, so how resorts guests will manage is very much an open issue.

Here's Whitten's close:

But beggars like me can't be picky. I want the game I love to survive and if it takes a gilded edge to accomplish that, so be it. 

At the close of our conversation, Trump offered to show me his books sometime, to prove that all his golf operations are profitable. I plan to take him up on that. Not because I don't believe him, although it does seem fanciful that his courses are making money when most others right now are money pits. I just want to know how he does it. I want to learn from The Master.

The game's survival is not at stake, nor will Trump be a significant factor in the game's popularity.  he serves a relatively small subset of the game, though a demographically-attractive one.  But Whitten is naive in the extreme if he thinks he will ever see Trump's books...  Trump's bombast has long included his financial affairs, his primary skill seeming to be an ability to acquire assets without actually writing a check himself.  

On the other hand, won't it be good fun watching Trump and Ted Bishop compete for a single microphone?