VIRGINIA WATER, England — European captain Luke Donald is relaxed about the prospect of President Donald Trump attending the upcoming Ryder Cup and hopes there isn’t a repeat of the delays at the U.S. Open tennis tournament caused by his presence.
Trump, a golf fanatic, has said he will be at Bethpage Black in New York on Friday, Sept. 26, for the start of three-day matches between the United States and Europe.
“I guess he will want to be on the first tee,” Donald said Wednesday. “Again, we understand that he’s coming and both teams will be ready for that.”
Trump attended the men’s final at the U.S. Open between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner on Sunday and extra security caused by his visit led to long lines and a half-hour delay to the start of play.
No announcement proceeded Trump’s appearance at Flushing Meadows, so at least the PGA of America — the organizer of this year’s Ryder Cup — has more of a head start.
“The PGA of America is obviously organizing this. There was some delays at the tennis — I think you’re probably all aware of that — but hopefully they have learnt from that,” said Donald, who was speaking at a news conference at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
“It’s a big process, obviously, to get a president to come to an event. There’s a lot of security and everything. It takes some work, I’m sure. The PGA of America’s job is to make sure it’s seamless, and he wants to be there to probably greet the players, and I think the crowd is probably going to be loud no matter what.”
During his first term as president, Trump showed up about an hour after the final match was underway Sunday at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in 2017. Trump later presented the trophy to the winning American squad.
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