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The most talked-about feature at Trump National Doral this week isn’t the punishing ‘Blue Monster’ course. It’s a 15-foot gold statue of Donald Trump that’s about to become even more of a spectacle.

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Standing 22 feet tall, including its pedestal, it will receive a new plaque in front of it on May 6 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the resort. The plaque will read: “Fight Fight Fight! President Donald J. Trump’s unrelenting fight to make America great again.” The addition comes just as the PGA Tour’s Cadillac Championship returns to Doral’s Blue Monster course this week, putting the statue directly in the spotlight for one of golf’s marquee events.

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The timing could not be more deliberate. The Donald Trump statue, made from gold-leaf bronze and commissioned by cryptocurrency group $PATRIOT, depicts Trump with a raised fist, a direct reference to the July 2024 assassination attempt. Ohio sculptor Alan Cottrill created the piece, which was previously caught in a payment dispute before being installed at the resort earlier this month.

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In fact, pros also noticed. Rickie Fowler, never short of a line, quipped, “It’s going to make me look smaller than I already am,” when asked whether he’d pose for a photo with the Donald Trump statue.

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Meanwhile, Maverick McNealy was more straightforward ahead of the $20M event: “It’s very tall and very gold.” A tournament photographer asked the Tour staff for a group shot by the statue. The staff responded with a flat “No.” The photographer then said, “Ok, I didn’t know you were all so woke.”

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The statue, sometimes called “Don Colossus,” overlooks the golf course from its pedestal and should draw significant attention when the gates open for Wednesday’s pro-am.

The Blue Monster‘s fearsome reputation is well-earned, especially after a $250 million-plus renovation. Gil Hanse’s sweeping redesign stretched the course to over 7,700 yards, rebuilt every green, and significantly altered 12 holes, including the reimagined 15th with its intimidating peninsula green. The result is a layout that now carries the highest penalty rate on tour, forcing players to confront an average of nearly one penalty stroke per round.

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Before losing its spot on the schedule, Doral hosted the PGA Tour from 1962 to 2016. After a stint as a LIV Golf venue, it is back on the PGA Tour calendar this week, adding another layer to an already charged atmosphere—a Trump-owned course, a gold statue mid-makeover, and one of the toughest tracks in the game. This week at Doral is going to be anything but ordinary.

Doral’s history has never been short of drama, on or off the course.

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Fun fact: The Blue Monster has always had a taste for the dramatic

Past winners at Doral include Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo, and Tom Weiskopf. The Blue Monster has been a good place for the game’s best players, and its champions list is one of the most decorated stops on the PGA Tour calendar.

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Take Craig Parry’s example. The Australian wasn’t quite in that superstar category, but pulled off one of the most theatrical finishes Doral has ever seen, sinking a fairway shot from about 170 yards at the 18th to win the 2004 Ford Championship in a playoff.

It was the context that made it unforgettable. NBC analyst Johnny Miller had spent the week tearing Parry’s swing apart on the air, comparing it to that of a 15-handicapper and saying it would make Ben Hogan uncomfortable. Those were big words for a man still competing at the Tour level.

Tour officials even raised the issue with Parry during the week. Then on Sunday, he holed out from the fairway to win. Miller later admitted he had used the wrong words and admitted the swing clearly worked. Doral has a way of making its own stories.

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Written by

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Vishnupriya Agrawal

1,511 Articles

Vishnupriya Agrawal is a Golf Writer at EssentiallySports, covering the PGA Tour and LPGA with a focus on breaking news, player controversies, and the stories that run alongside competitive golf. Her reporting moves across player movement, ranking shifts, and the moments that generate fan debate alongside the quieter human ones that tend to get buried in a tournament week. She covered the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills extensively, reporting on Jon Rahm's on-course outburst and the USGA's response, the crowd confrontations involving Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark, and Miles Russell's Father's Day caddie arrangement, which the USGA approved as a one-off exception. Before joining EssentiallySports, Vishnupriya worked as a freelance sports writer, developing a research-driven approach across formats and audiences. At ES, that carries through to her full range of golf coverage, from prize money breakdowns and earnings profiles to the off-course developments and player decisions that often explain what happens on the course.

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Abhimanyu Gupta

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