Trump’s Travel Ban: How Will It Affect Golf?

As President Donald Trump's travel ban comes in, we look at how it could affect the world of golf and major golfing events coming up

Donald Trump hits a drive
(Image credit: Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump's travel ban will come into operation on Monday June 9 - the start of US Open week - but how will it affect the third Major of the season and golf in general?

President Trump has signed a travel ban stopping visitors from 12 countries from entering the United States, with a further seven facing severe restrictions.

The 12 countries whose passport holders are banned from entering America are Afghanistan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The seven countries with travel restrictions on passport holders are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

The ban would mean that golf fans from any of those countries who have bought tickets for the US Open will now not be able to enter the country to make their way to Oakmont.

The same goes for golfers who merely wanted to visit the USA on a golf trip, maybe take in a PGA Tour event or even the Ryder Cup being held at Bethpage Black.

There aren't too many golfers from those banned nations, apart from Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas who had a superb PGA Championship when finishing T5 at Quail Hollow.

So any family, friends or fans from his native Venezuela hoping to travel to Oakmont to see him in the US Open could be bitterly disappointed if they're now not able to gain entry to the USA - as they may need a special exemption of their own.

Jhonattan Vegas smiles during round two of the 2025 PGA Championship

Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas is the only top golfer that could be affected by Trump's travel ban

(Image credit: Getty Images)

From the wider sporting world there is concern about how Trump's travel ban will interfere with huge events coming up such as the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.

However, there's an exemption within the travel ban, with section four of the order stating sports stars heading for "major" sporting events were free to enter the country.

Section four states that "any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state" can still enter the USA to attend those events.

So it seems that the Trump travel ban will cause minimal disruption to top level sport, but fans and recreational golfers from those affected countries look set to miss out.

Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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