Trump heading to Bedminster for US Women's Open

BEDMINSTER, New Jersey (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he was bound for New Jersey on Friday to attend the U.S. Women's Open golf championship being staged at his Trump National Golf Club.

The U.S. Women's Open, the third major women's championship of the season, was in the second round on a rainy Friday with a chance of a thunderstorm forecast for later in the day.

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"Left Paris for U.S.A. Will be heading to New Jersey and attending the #USWomensOpen, their most important tournament, this afternoon," Trump posted on Twitter on Friday morning.

Trump National was named as the site for the 2017 U.S. Women's Open in 2012, long before the golf-loving real estate magnate and reality TV star officially entered politics.

There have been calls for moving the 72-hole tournament following contested comments on women made by Trump during his 2016 election campaign.

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The day after the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Trump, hundreds of thousands of women participated in mass protests in several major U.S. cities, galvanized by his campaign rhetoric and behavior they found to be misogynist.

Last month a women's advocacy group called UltraViolet protested during the men's U.S. Open in Wisconsin by flying a banner that read: "USGA/LPGA: TAKE A MULLIGAN, DUMP TRUMP."

A local protest may be staged off the Trump National Golf Club grounds during the tournament.

The championship features 156 players on a Tom Fazio-designed course routed through more than 500 acres of rolling farmland and horse pastures.

(Reporting by Larry Fine; Editing by Mark Heinrich)