At 8:30 Tuesday morning, Raymond Corica stood behind the practice green at Doral’s Blue Monster holding a Sharpie pen and a photograph that he hoped to get signed. Autograph seekers converge on every PGA Tour stop bearing glossy prints for the players to sign, but this was different. The picture in Corica’s hand, taken at last year’s World Golf Championships event here, showed Corica standing next to Donald Trump — the Trump National Doral resort owner and unofficial tournament host.
“I’m going to come every day to try to get it autographed,” said Corica, who dressed with an eye toward improving his chances of being noticed by Trump, who exuded a magisterial presence during this tournament well before he became the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Over a long-sleeve shirt, Corica wore a white T-shirt with “President Trump” and “Make America Great Again 2016” across the front.
“I bought it so I could see Donald today,” said Corica, an electrician from Connecticut who took a selfie with Trump last year while serving as a tournament volunteer.
“If he sees me wearing this,” Corica added, “I’m confident he’ll sign my picture.”
On the day, known as Super Tuesday, in which 12 states held primaries or caucuses, Trump was hard to miss in the political headlines but nowhere to be seen on the tournament grounds. Since buying the Doral Resort and Spa out of bankruptcy in 2012 and overseeing extensive upgrades, Trump has been a conspicuous presence during the limited-field event. The past three years, it has been akin to a working spring break for Trump, who has arrived by helicopter on a helipad near the ninth tee and spent hours conducting tours of the grounds and shaking the hands of everyone in his path while being trailed by members of the news media.
Trump’s celebrity and bluster hark back to the earlier days of another South Florida tour stop, the Inverrary Classic, when it was hosted by the television star Jackie Gleason, a more transcendent figure than any player in the field. But Trump’s ascendant political profile may lead him to maintain a lower profile here this week.
Those like Corica, who showed up before Sunday hoping to encounter with Trump, might have to settle for sipping Trump citrus water or Trump virgin-mojito water from plastic glasses in the lobby of the resort. Tour officials have been told that Trump probably will make an appearance, with Secret Service detail in tow, but most likely not until the final round.
“It’s going to be different because we’ve never had this,” said Bubba Watson, the runner-up in 2012. “We’ve had presidents, ex-presidents show up and cheer us on at different events, but for it to be in the middle of a race, yeah, it will be different. But I’m pretty sure he’ll show up at some point.”
Watson added: “It’s his baby, and he’s part of this event. So it would be great if he showed up just to encourage us a little bit.”
Since announcing his candidacy, Trump has made disparaging remarks about women and Mexicans and advocated barring Muslim immigrants from the country. When Trump showed up here for a campaign rally this past October at the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom, he was interrupted by protesters three times, according to a Miami Herald report.
The PGA of America last year canceled its Grand Slam of Golf, scheduled to take place at a Trump course in Los Angeles, after he described Mexican immigrants as rapists. Three courses owned by Trump are scheduled to host majors in the coming years, including the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The tour has moved in recent months to distance itself from Trump’s politics while continuing to embrace his properties. It has released statements describing Trump’s views as inconsistent with the game’s commitment to creating an inclusive environment. And tour officials have said in a statement that they will revisit Doral as the site for this World Golf Championships event, which showcases the top international players, at the conclusion of the 2016 edition, the last with Cadillac as the title sponsor.
Trump’s golf properties include Turnberry in Scotland. The club hosted last year’s Women’s British Open and is in the British Open rotation. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which runs the men’s major, recently said that Turnberry remained in the running for the 2022 event.
Danny Willett, an Englishman, described the 66-man competition as “a great event” and said, “It would be a shame if it kind of gets to the direction that it sounds like it could head and Cadillac pulls out.” He added, “Trump’s been good for golf.”
Golf was not the only sport singed by Trump’s political remarks. NASCAR was scheduled to hold an awards event last year at Doral. Its World Truck Series is sponsored by Camping World, whose chief executive, Marcus Lemonis, is a native of Lebanon. In the wake of Trump’s comments about immigrants, Lemonis made it clear that he and his employees would not attend the banquet if it was held at Doral, and the event was moved.
On Monday, NASCAR’s chairman and chief executive, Brian France, endorsed Trump for president at an event that included a few NASCAR drivers.
In January, at a tour stop outside Palm Springs, California, the PGA commissioner, Tim Finchem, was asked about the extent of former President Bill Clinton’s involvement with the event. The Clinton Foundation was one of the sponsors, but Bill Clinton, a tireless promoter of the tournament in recent years, was spending time on the campaign trail with his wife, Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“We like to think that presidential politics doesn’t affect the situation here,” Finchem said.
Perhaps with an eye toward defusing any controversy here, Finchem added that the tour and its tournaments were “apolitical” and said, “We’re going to stay that way.”
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