DORAL, Fla. — Will Sunday’s final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral truly be the final round for a PGA Tour event at the iconic resort that has hosted the event since 1962?
That question — an unspoken and awkward backdrop to this year’s tournament — is as much a mystery as wondering which player will hoist the trophy by day’s end Sunday.
If this is, indeed, it for the PGA Tour at Doral — something that has been under heavy speculation in light of both the controversy that surrounds Donald Trump in his presidential campaign and of an impending change in title sponsor — Sunday will be a sad day.
The atmosphere this week, which has been dull and sleepy with small crowds and little buzz, already has had a sad vibe to it despite the fact 47 of the top 50 players in the world rankings are in the field.
An 18-hole walk with Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy — the top three players in the world rankings and the star grouping of the first two rounds — in Thursday’s opening round felt like watching someone’s club championship. The atmosphere was flatter than South Florida golf courses.
There were no roars. There was no buzz. And there were few people even following the star-studded threesome.
As you might have noticed (or heard), Trump, the tournament host, has been busy this week and hasn’t been on the grounds. He is scheduled to arrive sometime Sunday to hand the trophy to the winner.
If Trump — who likes everything he touches to be perceived as the biggest and the best, had been here this week — he would be aghast at how dead the atmosphere has been. He wants his place to the place to be and it has not been close to that this year.
If the PGA Tour is going to remain at Trump Doral, it needs to return it to a place where people want to come to watch one of its biggest events with the best players.
There are several reasons at play that explain the lack of buzz this week, beginning with Cadillac being in its final contract year and not spending as much money as it has in the past to promote the event.
There, too, is speculation that because Trump has become so polarizing with his political bombast, that also is keeping fans away.
The vibe has not been the same since the tournament became a World Golf Championship event. As soon as that occurred, the tournament became less about the community and more about corporate fat cats noshing on shrimp cocktails and sipping Veuve Clicquot from flute glasses.
Remember that Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson duel at Doral in 2005? That’s when the electricity at this tournament was at its peak. Be comparison, this week feels like a brownout with the lights flickering.
Trump, in a recent interview with Golfweek magazine, insisted he is not concerned about the PGA Tour leaving his course. He said, in fact, hosting the tournament is costing him money because, for more than a week, it closes the Blue Monster course to all the people paying as much as $495 per round.
“Look, it’s very expensive for me to have the tournament there, because I have 100 percent occupancy,” Trump said. “It costs me a lot of money. So if they want to move it, that’s up to them. I think they would be foolish to want to move it, because it’s the best course in Florida. It’s the best tournament course in Florida, by far, and it’s a big course. It’s got tremendous history.”
Don’t believe every one of those words from Trump. A big reason he got into the golf business, buying some 18 courses around the world, is because he wants his courses to host major professional events. And if the PGA Tour takes this tournament away from Doral, it will be a blow to Trump.
Doral has hosted this PGA Tour event for 53 years, which makes it one of the game’s flagship tournaments, dating back to when our fathers and grandfathers introduced many of us to the game on television. It will be a sad day for golf whenever that tradition ends.
