The Blue Monster at Trump National Doral Miami: from PGA Tour to LIV Golf hosting
- History
The course broke ground in 1960 and opened two years later in 1962. From 1963 to 1965 the course held the unofficial PGA Tour event Miami All-Star Golf where players like Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan dominated the tournament. From 1966 to 1971 the Doral Open was initially held as the invitational tournament before moving into open tournament status from 1972 onwards. Jack Nicklaus was the inaugural tournament winner with Craig Parry becoming the tournament's final winner before the course elevated into WGC status starting 2005. The course record was set by Stephen Ames at 11 under par 61 during the 2000 tournament. Tiger Woods took the 72-hole tournament record at 24 under par for his win at the 2005 tournament.
After moving to WGC status, the Blue Monster course was renamed into TPC Blue Monster from 2009 to 2016.
- Donald Trump ownership
TPC Blue Monster, along with the other three courses at Doral Golf Resorts & Spa is currently owned and managed since 2001 by the current (47th) President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. Trump has played golf in Doral since 1983.
- Notable incidents at TPC Blue Monster
The Blue Monster at Trump National Doral Miami (formerly TPC Blue Monster) had caused some of memorable incidents. In 2011, the course was damaged by the hurricane and took ten days of its reparation ahead of the 2011 tournament play which won by Nick Watney. During the third round of 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship, Rory McIlroy controversially threw his 4-iron into the lake near the par-5 8th hole, and caused him to score a double bogey on that hole. Later that evening, a scuba diver found the 4-iron which McIlroy threw into the lake earlier that afternoon and then retrieved to the course management. The next morning, Trump visited McIlroy to return his (McIlroy's) 4-iron to him. Also during the third round of the 2015 tournament, JB Holmes and eventual tournament winner Dustin Johnson scored a hole in one at the par-3 4th hole within the space of fifteen minutes. Johnson won the tournament by one stroke over Holmes. In September 2024, two months prior to the 2024 presidential election between Trump and Kamala Harris, a shooting took place near the golf course where Trump played golf with his friends when the shooting occured. Trump avoided the shooting without any serious injuries. The perperator who attempted to prevent Trump from becoming the president for 2025-2028 period was later arrested and imprisoned. Trump went on to win the election by majority decision.
- See also
- Official websites:
