Trump Family Praises the PGA and LIV Golf Merger
The Trump family, which has hosted LIV tournaments in the United States and was a big driver of the series’ attempt to break away from the PGA Tour, hopes to continue to see tournaments played at its golf courses after the merger is finalized.
“This merger is a great thing for the game of golf,” Eric Trump said in an interview on Tuesday. “I really believe that.”
His father, Donald J. Trump, also praised the deal. On Truth Social, the former president’s personal social media platform and megaphone, he wrote: “Great news from LIV Golf. A big, beautiful and glamorous deal for the wonderful world of golf.”
The LIV series has been a boon for the Trump family, who lost major tournaments after the January 6, 2021 attacks on the capitol, including one of golf’s four major tournaments, the 2022 PGA Championship. The tournament had been scheduled to be played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, but its organizers, the PGA of America, revoked the club’s hosting rights days after the capitol attack.
Last July, just before the first LIV tournament was played at Trump National Bedminster, Mr. Trump predicted that the series would eventually be combined, and he suggested that players who had stayed loyal to the PGA Tour were making a financial mistake.
“Everyone who remained ‘loyal’ to the wildly disloyal PGA, in all its different forms, will pay a heavy price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you will get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ of PGA officials making Millions of Dollars a year,” Mr. Trump wrote in Truth Social in July 2022. “If you don’t take the money now, you’ll get nothing after the merger happens, and only says how smart the original signers were.”
LIV has tournaments scheduled this year at Trump’s golf courses in Florida and New Jersey, and just wrapped up the tournament at Trump’s courses in Virginia. Negotiations are underway for more potential tournaments at Trump’s facility next year, though it’s now unclear whether the series will continue in its current format.
When asked whether the Trump family played a role in pressing the PGA and LIV groups to join forces, Eric Trump on Tuesday declined to comment. But he said the family had close friends who grew up over their years in the golf world, including those associated with the PGA and LIV groups.
