Buffalo Bills safety Jordan Poyer canceled his annual golf charity event Saturday, he announced on Instagram, after several teams and sponsors pulled out of the event.
The reasoning for sponsors pulling out was due to the location of the event.
Poyer’s charity event was set to take place next month at Trump National Doral Golf Club in South Florida, which is owned by former President Donald Trump.
He released this statement on his Instagram page.
“Unfortunately, the location of the event led to a few sponsors and golfers withdrawing at the last minute due to external pressures, While it’s disappointing, I respect their decision. Nevertheless, we will persevere.”
It remains unclear how many sponsors or teams actually withdrew from the tournament. The event, according to the Buffalo News, was set to benefit the ECMC Foundation. Power described them as a “big sponsor,” but the group said they were just the beneficiary of the event:
“ECMC Foundation was fortunate to be a beneficiary of Jordan Poyer’s golf tournament in Florida,” EMC Foundation executive director Susan Gonzalez wrote in a letter to the Buffalo News. “Although the Foundation was not a sponsor, we have had an excellent partnership with Jordan and we respect his decision to cancel his tournament; we hope he will consider supporting us in his future events.”
This is not the first time that Trump lost golf events at his courses. The PGA of America cut ties with Trump and moved the 2022 PGA Championship away from Bedminster, New Jersey following the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6th, 2021. The R&A said earlier this month that it would not host a British Open at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland while he owns it.
Poyer’s wife, Rachel Bush, explained the situation further on her Twitter page:
“Let’s be very clear. Jordan did not cancel his event,” she wrote. “We will always stand proudly with our beliefs and hold true to them. Publicly. And we can easily spend our own money to fund the tournament. It wasn’t about that. Tournament will be at same spot next year. Trump’s course.
Poyer had 63 total tackles and four interceptions in 12 games with the Bills last season, his 10th in the league. The 32-year-old signed a new two-year, $12.5 million deal with the team earlier this offseason.
