Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Raquel Regalado is hitting her opponent over the PGA Tour’s decision to leave Doral.
In an email to supporters Saturday, Regalado said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez didn’t do enough to keep the tournament in Miami-Dade County.
“When Gimenez got a call from the PGA that after 55 years they were leaving Miami-Dade, he assumed their minds were made up and nothing else could be done,” she said in the email. “Typical Carlos Gimenez — always there for the ribbon-cutting ceremonies, the galas and press conferences, but never available to solve a problem.”
The PGA Tour announced last week it was moving its annual event in Doral to Mexico City. The Doral course is owned by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
According to the Miami Herald, the PGA in December said it was exploring all options about whether to keep the event in Doral after Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. However, the Miami Herald reported PGA officials said the decision boiled down to a sponsorship issue.
In her email, Regalado said “everybody knows that the PGA’s and its sponsor’s decision to leave Miami-Dade centers on the golf course’s association with Donald Trump” and his controversial comments. She also said Gimenez is the “only person claiming this has nothing to do with Donald Trump.”
“How is it that last week Gimenez was going on and on about the economic benefits of the 2020 Super Bowl, and yet he doesn’t even make a phone call to the PGA tour,” she said. “After years of telling us how important sports events are to our local economy, why didn’t Gimenez ask for more time? Why didn’t Carlos Gimenez reach out to other corporate partners and try to find solutions or provide alternative locations? I would have.”
Regalado told supporters she would work “diligently to ensure that Miami-Dade has a proper venue for the PGA tour to return to.”
“I’ve never played golf but this isn’t about golf, it is about the millions of dollars that this event brings to our home. It is about our children, because unlike other sporting events, the PGA donates to charities that help our local families,” she wrote. “In fact last year the PGA has provided more than $17 million for local charities since 1962. Last year, the United Way received $250,000 and the First Tee Program, which teaches kids values, life skills and leadership through golf, received $150,000. That money won’t be available for these programs this year.”
Regalado, a Miami-Dade County school board member, told supporters the county can do “better than someone who has time to golf every Friday but not time to do his job.”
Regalado and Gimenez will face off in the August election.
