While golf might not be one of North America's traditional "Big Four" sports, it still registers on the United States radar. And, in 2024, some of the game's biggest names will apparently be returning to Florida.
"TRUMP NATIONAL DORAL, in Miami, has just signed with LIV GOLF to host a Championship Tournament in April, 2024," former President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social, his social media platform, on Friday morning. "The event they had at Doral in October was a major success!"
On LIV Golf's website, the details of April's United States event are still listed as "to be announced." Newsweek has reached out to LIV Golf and Trump's representatives via email, asking for confirmation.
The aforementioned October event was the Team Championship, which featured all teams playing "to secure their position within their tier." The Crushers, captained by Bryson DeChambeau, took the top spot.
Involvement in big-time golf is nothing new for Trump. The 2022 PGA Championship was slated to be played at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey, but plans changed.
"The PGA of America cut ties to President Donald Trump when it voted Sunday to take the PGA Championship event away from his New Jersey golf course next year," a report from the Associated Press in January 2021 said. "The vote comes four days after the Trump-fueled riot at the nation's Capitol as Congress was certifying the election victory of President-elect Joe Biden. This is the second time in just over five years the PGA of America removed one of its events from a Trump course."
The AP also noted at the time that the PGA of America canceled "the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in 2015 at Trump National Los Angeles Golf Club after Trump's disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants when he announced he was seeking the Republican nomination for president. The event was canceled for good the following spring."
On the LIV front, Trump has weighed in on several occasions.
"It's big time and it's big-time money. It's unlimited money. They love golf and the Saudis have done a fantastic job," the former president said in 2022. "It's different, the enthusiasm."
LIV Golf also hosted multiple events at Trump golf courses, with the former president hailing the PGA Tour-LIV merger in June as a "big, beautiful, and glamorous deal."
As Newsweek previously reported in June, LIV Golf, later renamed the LIV Golf League, was founded in 2021. The tour was immensely controversial because of its close ties to Saudi Arabia, and in particular Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chairs Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). In 2021, U.S. intelligence reported that bin Salman approved the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered in Istanbul in 2018, though he denies any involvement.
Given those connections, criticism has been levied against the former president. Members of 9/11 Justice sent Trump a letter in 2022 explaining the anger and pain caused by LIV Golf coming to Trump Bedminster.
"It is incomprehensible to us, Mr. Trump, that a former president of the United States would cast our loved ones aside for personal financial gain," they wrote.
Elsewhere, Thomas Gift, head of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, weighed in.
"Although the PGA-LIV merger is already putting professional golf at the frontlines of a new culture war, the prospect of a Trump-owned course hosting a tour event would be a coup for the former president," he previously told Newsweek. "It would amplify his brand, and give him yet another opportunity to grab the spotlight—all while boasting of his 'perfect' and 'best-in-class' business ventures. It's a tailor-made campaign event for a politician who's already closely linked himself to golf."
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