PGA Tour says adios to Miami

The PGA Tour's event in Miami will move to Mexico City next year.

US golfer Bubba Watson at the Cadillac Championship in Doral, Florida

The PGA Toru's long-established event in Miami will reportedly move to Mexico City next year. (AAP)

The PGA Tour's long-established tournament in Miami will move to Mexico City next year, a switch prompted by sponsorship issues and welcomed by some players but blasted by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The elite World Golf Championships event formerly known as the WGC-Cadillac Championship will no longer be staged at Trump's Doral course after the tour was unable to find a new title sponsor.

The PGA Tour had a contract with Doral through to 2023, but Cadillac ended its backing this year and no replacement could be found.

It will be renamed the WGC-Mexico Championship and will be played from March 2-5, 2017 at a venue yet to be announced.

Trump blasted the PGA Tour earlier in the day, saying the move was akin to decisions by some US companies to move jobs to Mexico, which has been a frequent refrain of his presidential campaign.

"The PGA Tour has put profit ahead of thousands of American jobs, millions of dollars in revenue for local communities and charities and the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of fans who make the tournament an annual tradition," Trump said in a statement.

His antagonistic comments have previously cost him in the golfing world.

The elite PGA Grand Slam of Golf, a 36-hole stroke-play event that features the winners of the season's four majors, was scrapped last year due to complications over the proposed venue, Trump's National course in Los Angeles.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy warmly welcomed Wednesday's announcement.

"They're called the World Golf Championship for a reason," McIlroy said.

"I always felt that having three of them in the United States wasn't really spreading the game, so I think it's a good move."


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Source: AAP



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