Donald Trump banned from Masters club and made golfing icon quit TV job | Golf | Sport

Being President of the United States affords countless privileges and access to some of the most closely guarded institutions in the country. However, the members’ lounge at the Masters apparently isn’t among them. It’s something of an open secret that President Donald Trump has spent years attempting to secure membership at Augusta National.

Restricted to approximately 300 members at any given time, the Georgia resort ranks among the most exclusive venues in the world of golf. Yet despite ascending to the role of ‘Leader of the Free World’ on two occasions, Trump apparently lacks the qualities needed to fit in at Augusta. So says coaching legend Butch Harmon, who, on the eve of the 2026 Masters getting under way on Thursday, shed light on why Trump is kept at a distance. Harmon was asked why Trump isn’t — and quite possibly never will be — a member at Augusta National and told UK reporters: “I think you can answer that yourself. Because he’s Trump.

“I think he is who he is. He’s full of himself. He’s the type of person that I don’t think fits the profile of an Augusta member. I’ve known him most of my whole life, because his father was a member of Winged Foot.”

“I’ve known Donald pretty much my whole life. What you see is what you get with him. And I don’t think his personality fits the membership at Augusta.

“I don’t think that [being president] has anything to do with it, because there’s been a lot of other presidents who played golf, and they’re not members. [Bill] Clinton, [Barack] Obama… they played golf. I think it’s just his personality doesn’t mix with that particular club. That’s as politically correct as I can be.”

Harmon’s late father, Claude, was the head pro at Winged Foot for more than 30 years (from 1945 to 1978). Trump, 79, has himself been a member at the New York course for more than half a century, but Augusta is in a different bracket altogether.

As Harmon hinted, it’s not about the presidency, either. Dwight D. Eisenhower was among the club’s most famous members and has a cabin named after the 34th president of the United States even constructed on-site.

Following last year’s war between the US and Europe, tensions between the two continental giants are perhaps still high. Team Europe won the Ryder Cup in New York as Masters titleholder Rory McIlroy waded through a sea of boos and jeers to lift the title.

The scenes were widely attributed to the prevailing atmosphere of Trump’s America, with relentless chants of ‘USA’ echoing around Bethpage. Furthermore, it proved to be one of the most fractious Ryder Cups on record, as players and caddies from opposing sides clashed and squabbled in full view of the crowds.

The behaviour of the home crowd was widely condemned as unworthy of the sport, with Harmon among those voicing his disapproval. The 82-year-old laid bare his shame over the whole affair, going as far as withdrawing himself from Sky’s broadcast coverage out of a sense of shame.

“I thought the Ryder Cup was disgusting,” he continued. “It was embarrassing being an American. I love the Ryder Cup, it’s my favourite one to broadcast and being from New York, I had planned to work with the Sky team, but I decided to pull out for that main reason.”