What's motivating McIlroy this week in India
Golf Channel's Paige Mackenzie breaks down Rory McIlroy's motivations behind playing this week's DP World Tour event in New Delhi, India. McIlroy has yet to miss a cut this year on the European circuit.
A U.S. District Court judge approved a 14-day temporary restraining order on Tuesday that will keep federal officials from felling anymore trees at East Potomac Golf Course, a public course in Washington, D.C., that is at the center of a heated dispute between the federal government and city activists.
The order was filed by the DC Preservation League after the National Park Service removed “about 430 healthy, non-invasive trees” from the course last weekend despite the judge’s warnings to discontinue the tree removal while the court reviews the government’s plan.
“More than being upset and furious right now, I am just deeply disappointed in the government,” judge Ana Reyes scolded officials during an emergency hearing on Monday. “On what universe did anyone in your office think this was acceptable?”
In the order, Reyes ruled that the DC Preservation League, and two other plaintiffs, “will likely suffer irreparable harm absent injunctive relief” and ordered the government to give notice of three (business) days before “making any irreparable modification to any permanent form or feature” to the course through Oct. 26.
The DC Preservation League claims that the tree removal is part of President Donald Trump’s plan for the Department of the Interior to “quickly” replace the East Potomac Golf Course with an upscale golf course.
At 4:55 p.m. ET on Oct. 9, the Friday before a holiday weekend, the government posted a plan to “remove ‘up to 529 trees’ from the course” to restore its “historic links-style character.” At around 8 a.m. on Oct. 10, the government began removing nearly 430 trees and planned to take out about 300 more before plaintiffs requested the temporary restraining order, claiming the Department of Interior “violated [the National Environmental Policy Act] by failing to comply adequately with the statute’s procedural and substantive requirements before cutting down hundreds of trees” on the course.
Reyes scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Monday and ordered Gregory Wischer, deputy chief of staff to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Jessica Bowron, the Park Service official exercising the director’s authority, to “present sworn testimony” at the hearing.