Cancel culture is behind former United States President Donald Trump’s New Jersey golf course losing the PGA Championship, says golf legend, Jack Nicklaus.

Instead of holding the event where it was originally planned at Trump’s luxury golf course in Bedminster — located in North Jersey’s quiet and wealthy suburbs — the PGA decided to relocate the championship this year to another country club golf course based in Oklahoma.

The decision was made to hold the event at Tulsa’s Southern Hills Country Club back on January 11, 2021, just days after Trump supporters entered the United States Capitol building on January 6, protesting the results of the 2020 election results and suspected fraud surrounding it.

Nicklaus, the record holder for the most major wins in golf, totaling 18, openly panned PGA CEO Seth Waugh for sabotaging Trump.

“Trump may be a lot of things, but he loves golf and he loves this country,” Nicklaus told Fire Pit Collective.

“I like Seth Waugh,” Nicklaus said. “Seth didn’t need this job. He took the job because he thought he could give the PGA of America some good guidance. And I think he’s doing that.”

While he agrees that Waugh is managing the golfing business effectively, Nicklaus said pulling a major golf event from Donald Trump’s course, where it was originally scheduled, was totally unfair and unscrupulous.

“This is cancel culture,” Nicklaus said, with clear and evident disdain. “He’s a student of the game and a formidable figure in the game. What he does in the future in golf will depend on what the cancel culture will allow him to do.”

In his response to the decision to cancel the event at Trump’s course, Waugh made comments about the January 6th protest occurrences, predictably.

“We find ourselves in a political situation, not of our making,’’ Waugh told AP News at the time. “We’re fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission, and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave.”

PGA President Jim Richerson agreed with Waugh.

“The PGA of America Board of Directors voted tonight to exercise the right to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster,” Richerson told ESPN in January 2021.

“It has become clear…conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminister would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand, and would put at risk the PGA’s ability to deliver on many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission,” he continued.

Jack Nicklaus endorsed Trump just before the 2020 election, during the week before it was held.

Asked if the former president had commented about the tournament being relocated from Trump Bedminster, the 82-year-old golf legend responded in the negative.

“He hasn’t said a word about it,” Nicklaus said. “Not to me.”

The PGA Championship is set to begin at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Thursday, May 19.

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