Donald Trump casts a huge shadow over U.S. Women’s Open

Blame Trump and the USGA for making the women competing in this week’s U.S. Women’s Open answer for the terrible decision to stage the major at one of POTUS’ golf tracks.

As much as the players and most observers would prefer to spotlight Michelle Wie, Lydia Ko, Cristie Kerr, and the rest of the talented field gathered in New Jersey for the U.S. Women’s Open rather than the ongoing political nightmare that engulfs the country, the shameful misogynist whose track is hosting this week’s major tilt has kicked such narratives to the curb.

For sure, the plethora of storylines about the women vying for the Women’s Open title — Wie’s shot at a second Open win, Ko’s chance to put an off-year behind her with her third major victory, among others — should be front and center. But the sexist in the Oval Office, who owns the Bedminster track on which this week’s drama will unfold, whom many of the LPGA contestants consider their pal and a friend to women’s golf, and who has bragged about sexually assaulting women — with help from the organization that refused to stand up to bullying from the owner of Trump National in Bedminster — ensure that politics will engulf the women’s third of five majors.

It already has, as Wie can attest. Her pre-tourney press conference was hijacked by an image of Trump accompanied by a story about him threatening to sue the USGA festooned on a TV screen next to the podium from which she tried to deflect queries about POTUS.

"I will not comment on any political part this week," Wie announced on Tuesday after stating that she took “very seriously” her status as a role model for young women. "This week is about the golf for me. I'm excited to compete in this championship and it's really purely about the golf.”

To recap, the USGA, with little fanfare, secured the Trump track in 2012 for its most prestigious women’s tourney, well before the bombastic real estate mogul became a candidate in the 2016 presidential election.

Those in the golf world and beyond began to take notice of that decision in 2015, when Trump threw his “Make America Great Again” cap in the ring.

In the wake of the then-candidate’s offensive comments about Mexican immigrants, the USGA, PGA and LPGA Tours, and PGA of America began to receive entreaties to move all their events from Trump-owned properties. The PGA of America canceled its Grand Slam of Golf rather than stage it at Trump National in Los Angeles though the 2017 Senior PGA Championship at Trump National in Virginia went ahead as planned a couple months ago.

The PGA Tour declined to move the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship from Doral though this year’s event, ironically, took place in Mexico. The USGA, in the face of growing opposition, stood by its decision to have the women play the ’17 U.S. Open at Trumpminster.

After the contemptible Access Hollywood video tape surfaced, the one on which Trump is heard boasting about how his position as a celebrity enabled him to grab women’s private parts, resistance to the USGA’s arrangement for this week’s contest ramped up. Through it all — including planes sporting anti-Trump messages flying over last year’s Women’s Open — golfers have tried to steer clear of the swelling political firestorm.

"There’s not a whole lot I can do about it," Stacy Lewis told Randall Mell at the time from CordeValle Golf Club, site of the 2016 Open. "As players, what are we going to do, just not show up and not play the U.S. Women’s Open? I don’t think people are going to do that. You just have to rely on the governing bodies. I’m sure they will be prepared for everything that week. We have to rely on them.”

Fast forward a year and Wie was hardly alone in her unwillingness to veer from the party line that several LPGA Tour players are carefully toeing this week — the one that has one and all chanting the “we’re just here to play golf, not opine about politics” mantra.

As Kerr noted, there’s not much for any of the competitors to gain by speaking ill of the tourney host, or to chat about him at all.

“There's no benefit to us [to discuss Trump’s past comments],” Kerr said on Wednesday. “Whatever we can say can be taken out of context and we are here to just play golf, we are here to talk about a fabulous golf course … We are here to talk about golf.”

The defending champ concurred.

“I really don't want to answer any questions about politics,” Brittany Lang said on Wednesday. “I'd love to answer stuff about golf.”

Brittany Lincicome broke ranks briefly when she told the Chicago Tribute two weeks ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship that she wished POTUS would not distract from the play on the field.

"Hopefully he doesn't show up and it won't be a big debacle and it will be about us and not him,” said Lincicome, who, after taking heat for her reasonable request, quit Twitter for the week.

Not surprisingly, it appears that Trump will not turn down the chance to preen at one of the crown jewels of his golf enterprise, as he will reportedly make an appearance sometime during the championship.

Unfortunately for the competitors as well as fans of women’s golf — at least some of whom will boycott and/or protest the festivities because of its location — golf will play second fiddle to the course owner whose ego is as enormous as his hands are tiny. And you can thank Trump for reportedly threatening to sue the USGA if the organization attempted to switch venues from the private club that serves as his summer White House, and the lily-livered governing body for not moving the event or standing up to Trump’s bullying.

Indeed, while the players have had to respond to queries about Trump, Mike Davis, the USGA’s chief executive has been conspicuously absent from the proceedings. It certainly would have been illuminating to know if the USGA had any recourse had the notoriously litigious Trump gone ahead and sued the governing body.

Meanwhile, perhaps the drama coming down the stretch of this event — like that of last year when “Bethany” Lang (as USGA president Diana Murphy incorrectly called her four times) defeated Anna Nordqvist in overtime after rules officials docked the runner-up two strokes for grounding her club in a bunker — will be sufficient to refocus the attention on the athletes competing in the third of five majors on the women’s calendar.

Even an extra-inning game pitting Wie vs. Ko, however, is likely to be overshadowed by the appearance of the chauvinist-in-chief, who may actually be on hand to present the trophy to the winner.

Such a display will either cause golf fans to lunge for the remote to change channels or boost ratings into the stratosphere with those TV viewers who support POTUS tuning in to catch a glimpse of their hero and those who oppose him unable to turn away from the three-ring circus Trump seems determined to make the event.