Donald Trump once reflected on losing the chance to host the PGA Championship at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course after the fallout from the January 6 Capitol attack.
The episode stood out because it showed how events far outside sport could still reshape one of golf’s biggest dates. What should have been a major moment for Trump’s Bedminster instead became part of the wider fallout from Washington.
That is why this remains such an unusual sports story. The course did not lose the event over golf, but over the reputational consequences that followed in 2021.
Donald Trump recalled the Bedminster PGA Championship snub in 2022
Looking back on the controversy in comments reported by Business Insider, Trump described how he first heard that the 2022 PGA Championship would no longer be staged at his Bedminster, New Jersey course.
The event had originally been awarded to Trump National Golf Club Bedminster before the PGA of America moved it elsewhere in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Trump said, “My son, who’s a great guy, called. My son said, ‘Dad, they’re canceling the PGA Championship [at Trump Bedminster]. I said, ‘That’s terrible. Really? Are you serious?’ He said, ‘Yeah, they’re canceling it. Can you believe it?’ I said, ‘Not really. Let me think about that. That’s something.’
“And then I had to get back to work and China and all this stuff, Russia, the country. But it’s a hell of a thing when you hear that.”
The PGA of America later confirmed it had voted to terminate the agreement for Trump Bedminster to host the 2022 PGA Championship.
Donald Trump argued the Bedminster, New Jersey course was built for a major
Trump also made the case that his Bedminster, New Jersey property was ideally suited to stage a golf major.
He said, “I would’ve loved to have done it and because I have the right place, I have the right location, the Tom Fazio course — he feels it was one of his best jobs he’s ever done.”
“It’s essentially right outside the Lincoln Tunnel, 20 minutes away. It’s perfect and big. And I have the two courses there. We have parking for thousands of cars. It would have been phenomenal,” Trump concluded.
The broader backdrop, though, was the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which interrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory and triggered major political and corporate fallout
That is what makes this a true throwback. Trump’s 2022 frustration over Bedminster was really part of the longer shadow cast by events from 2021.
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