Donald Trump’s plan to unite PGA Tour-LIV Golf may have started last week in West Palm Beach
VIDEO: Former President Donald Trump plays pro-am at LIV Golf Miami
Former President Donald Trump paired with Palm Beach County’s Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia for a pro-am round on Thursday at Trump National Doral Miami.
Eric J. Wallace, Wochit
Donald Trump recently golfed with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in West Palm Beach, and sat next to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, at a UFC event, perhaps initiating his plan to help unite the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
Trump, the president elect, recently said he believes it would take “the better part of 15 minutes” for him to get a deal done between the two tours that have been negotiating for 18 months in an attempt to combine commercial businesses and rights into a new for-profit company.
Trump, an avid golfer and golf fan, hosted Monahan at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach Friday, one day before sitting between Al-Rumayyan and Elon Musk at the UCF event at Madison Square Garden.
A PGA Tour spokesperson confirmed Friday’s golf outing to the Washington Post.
“President-Elect Trump has always been a champion of the game of golf and Commissioner Monahan was honored to accept his invitation to play at Trump International. The President-Elect and the Commissioner share a love for the game and the Commissioner enjoyed their time together.”
The Post reported the round was initiated by Trump.
Trump’s victory increased hope LIV, which is financed by the PIF, and the PGA Tour could resolved their differences and end the rivalry that has fractured golf.
Rory McIlroy, the Jupiter resident and No. 3 ranked golfer in the world, believes Trump’s return to the White House will be good for the sport.
“I think that clears the way a little bit,” McIlroy told reporters at the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship soon after Trump was declared the winner of the election.
McIlroy won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday.
Trump aligned with LIV from the start
Trump’s adversarial relationship with the PGA Tour led to his becoming an advocate of LIV, which was started in 2022 by Greg Norman, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, and is headquartered in West Palm Beach.
“He might be able to (get a deal done),” McIlroy, the four-time major winner said about Trump. “He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too.
“Yeah, I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows?”
Trump told the Sirius XM podcast “Let’s Go!” he believes it would take him “the better part of 15 minutes” to get a deal done.
“I’m really going to work on other things, to be honest with you,” Trump said. “I think we have much bigger problems than that. But I do think we should have one tour and they should have the best players in that tour.”
McIlroy said this summer among the reasons the sides cannot agree are half the players on both sides do not want an agreement and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DOJ is headed by the U.S. attorney general, who reports directly to the president and is a member of the president’s Cabinet.
LIV just completed its third year. During that time it has played six events on Trump properties, including three at Trump National Doral outside of Miami. Trump frequently has played in the LIV pro-ams at his courses.
One month after LIV’s inaugural event, Trump told PGA Tour golfers to, “take the money now.”
The message on his social media site also said: “All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
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