European captain Luke Donald isn’t worried about President Donald Trump attending the upcoming Ryder Cup, though he hopes to avoid the delays that plagued the U.S. Open tennis tournament when Trump showed up.
Trump plans to be at Bethpage Black in New York for the opening day of the three-day competition between the United States and Europe on Friday, September 26.
“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.”
The golf-loving former president’s appearance at Sunday’s U.S. Open men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner caused significant disruption. Extra security measures led to long lines and delayed the match by half an hour.
At least this time there’s advance notice. Trump’s tennis appearance came without any announcement, while the PGA of America – this year’s Ryder Cup organizer – has time to prepare.
“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,” Donald said during 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.”
This won’t be Trump’s first appearance at a team golf competition. During his presidency, he arrived about an hour after the final match started at the 2017 Presidents Cup in New Jersey, later presenting the trophy to the victorious American team.
