The Ryder Cup has warned fans to expect delays and airport-style security as Bethpage Black braces itself for the visit of Donald Trump.
The president is slated to be among the crowd on the opening day of this week’s clash between Europe and the USA.
On Wednesday morning, ‘enhanced security measures’ were announced, with a number of items now banned due to Trump’s arrival. They include ‘large umbrellas’ and range finders.
The president’s visit comes just two weeks after the fatal shooting of his friend and ally, Charlie Kirk. And just over a year after Trump himself survived an assassination attempt.
Back in July 2024, the security services reportedly flagged a man using a range finger to the US Secret Service around 20 minutes before Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Range finders are a common gadget used by golfers to work out the distance between their ball and the hole. But the Ryder Cup announced that they will not be permitted inside the course on Friday.
Gates will now open at 5am, meanwhile, as the Ryder Cup bids to avoid the chaos of the recent US Open men’s singles final.
The clash between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz had to be pushed back half an hour after tennis chiefs implemented extra security with Trump in the crowd.
Earlier this week, police chiefs warned that there is an ‘increased’ risk of someone ‘targeting’ the Ryder Cup to ‘make a statement’ in the wake of Kirk’s death.
The conservative political activist was shot during an event in Utah earlier this month.
Trump’s visit to Bethpage Black has only added another layer of complication to an already vast security operation which is ‘on par’ with a Super Bowl and includes drones and bomb-disposal dogs as well as chemical, biological and radiological units.
And the man leading Ryder Cup security admitted they are preparing for the worst. ‘If anything, the likelihood of somebody trying to use an event like this to make a statement is only increased,’ Major Stephen Udice told the BBC.
‘Some would argue it’s much higher. We are planning as if there are threats. We have multiple different layers that someone looking to cause chaos and harm is going to have to get through.
‘In an event of this size, with the attention that this is going to get around the world, we also recognize that this is a target.’
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