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The United States Golf Association said it is not considering moving the 2017 U.S. Women's Open from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., after three United States senators sent a letter to the organization requesting the change Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, all Democrats, asked USGA executive director Mike Davis to consider suspending further events at properties owned by Trump.
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They asked for the move because of the Republican presidential nominee's "pattern of degrading and dehumanizing women" over decades.
The Trump Organization declined comment.
USGA spokeswoman Janeen Driscoll said in an email that the organization's stance on Trump has not changed since it issued a statement a couple of months ago saying it would not move the tournament.
Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey joined the other senators in calling for the event to be moved, but only if the tournament stays in the state.
Menendez says people in New Jersey who depend on the jobs that come from hosting the event should not be penalized.
PGA announces new tournament in South Korea
The PGA Tour announced a new tournament for the 2017-18 schedule, the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges, which will be played at the Club at Nine Bridges in Jeju Island, South Korea.
The CJ Corporation will be the title sponsor for the event, which will be played for the first time on Oct. 19-22, 2017.
"This announcement is a historic landmark for the PGA Tour as we add another tournament in Asia," said Jay Monahan, deputy commissioner of the PGA Tour. "We had such a phenomenal experience in Korea last year at the Presidents Cup, and we hoped an official, permanent event in this great country would be the result of that success. ...
"We have a tremendous population of Korean golfers on the PGA Tour, and we anticipate that will continue as the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges inspires a new generation of players, not only in Korea, but also around the world."
In 2016, there were 20 South Koreans with membership on the PGA Tour or the Web.com Tour.
This will be the third tournament on the PGA Tour schedule in Asia, joining the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China, and the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The PGA Tour also is opening an office in Tokyo, and it hired Masashi Ishii as vice president and managing director of its business in Asia.
Byron Nelson moves to Dallas
The AT&T Byron Nelson will move from Four Seasons Las Colinas to Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas in 2018, the PGA Tour announced.
Trinity Forest, located 10 miles south of downtown Dallas, is an 18-hole, links-style course designed by two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and renowned golf course designer Bill Coore.
The 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson will be played for the last at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas, from May 15-21.
"We are forever grateful to Four Seasons and the City of Irving for a long, prosperous partnership that has enabled us to raise over $150 million for Momentous Institute, impacting over 100,000 lives," said David Watson, chairman of the board for the AT&T Byron Nelson. "We look forward to our tournament's future and continuing to change the odds for kids."
AT&T, the tournament's title sponsor since 2015, has its headquarters in Dallas.
The tournament, first played as the Texas Victory Open in 1944 when it was won by future tournament host Byron Nelson, is one of the longest-running tournaments on the PGA Tour.
Sergio Garcia of Spain won the tournament for the second time in a playoff over Brooks Koepka earlier this year.
Name Change
The name of the second event in the FedExCup playoffs was changed from the Deutsche Bank Championship to the Dell Technologies Championship, the PGA Tour announced.
The tournament will continued to be played at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass.
"This tournament has long been an exceptional event, and generates a positive impact on New England's charities, communities and economy," said Bill Scannell, president of sales and customer operations at Dell EMC.
"Dell Technologies is very pleased to build upon EMC's legacy as a cornerstone supporter of the event, which has become a Labor Day tradition for many families as well as our customers and partners."
The tournament will be played next Sept. 1-4 with its traditional Monday finish on Labor Day.
Dell also hosts a World Golf Championships event, and the name of that tournament was changed to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. It will be held March 22-26, 2017, at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, where Dell has its headquarters.
Rich Brady, who has served on the tournament staff for six years, was named executive director of the Dell Technologies Championship.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland captured the last Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in September and went on to claim the FedExCup by winning the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
College Golf
Top-ranked Bronte Law leads No. 5 UCLA into the second annual East Lake Cup, which pits four of the top women's and men's college teams in a three-day event beginning Monday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
In the women's event, the Bruins will be joined by fourth-ranked Stanford, the 2014 NCAA champion and 2015 runner-up; defending national champion Washington and No. 25 Duke.
"UCLA is very excited to have the opportunity to compete in the East Lake Cup this year," coach Carrie Forsyth said. "We had an excellent postseason run last year and feel fortunate to have the chance to participate in such a prestigious event held on an amazing golf course.
"This will be our first time playing in this tournament, and we look forward to the match-play format and all the exciting golf we are sure to experience."
On the men's side, Oregon, the defending NCAA champion and No. 20 in the current rankings, will face top-ranked Illinois, No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 14 Texas.
Featured in the men's tournament are top-ranked Wyndham Clark of Oregon, No. 3 Dylan Meyer of Illinois, No. 5 Gavin Hall of Texas, No. 6 Mattias Schwab of Vanderbilt, No. 8 Doug Ghim of Texas, No. 14 Patrick Martin of Vanderbilt, No. 21 Nick Hardy of Illinois.
Joining Law, the 2015 NCAA Player of the Year who is from England, in the women's field are No. 2 Leona Maguire of Duke, who represented Ireland in the Olympic Games; No. 7 Andrea Lee of Stanford, No. 10 Casey Danielson of Stanford, No. 27 Lilia Vu of UCLA and No. 31 Bethany Wu of UCLA.
Illinois captured the inaugural men's event last year and USC won the women's tournament at East Lake, where the PGA Tour plays its Tour Championship at the end of every season to determine the winner of the FedExCup.
The individual stroke-play championship will be held Monday, followed by match-play semifinals Tuesday and the match-play final Wednesday.
The tournament will be telecast each day from noon-3 p.m. EDT on Golf Channel.
Charles Schwab Cup playoffs
Bernhard Langer of Germany withdrew last week before the start of the PowerShares QQQ Championship, the opening event of the inaugural Charles Schwab Cup playoffs, because of a left knee injury. He hopes to return this week.
Langer, two-time defending Charles Schwab Cup champion who leads the point standings on the PGA Tour Champions, said he aggravated the injury at home doing his usual spinning routine. He had an MRI exam early in the week and still hoped to make it to the first time for round one.
"The last thing I want to do is try and play and do further damage and then I can't play next week or the following week, which that would really be bad if I can't play the Schwab Cup," Langer said.
"You know, the priority is to get my health. You can't play golf if you're not healthy. The game is hard enough when you're healthy, you don't need to be injured."
Langer amassed 2,697,459 points this season and will remain atop the standings heading to the Dominion Charity Classic, second event of the playoffs, which starts Thursday at the Country Club in Richmond, Va.
With $2,697,459 in earnings this season, thanks to four victories and 16 top-10 finishes in 19 starts, Langer mathematically clinched his eighth PGA Tour Champions money title in nine years.
