Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf courses will host three tournaments this year for the breakaway league that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is underwriting, deepening the financial ties between a candidate for the White House and top officials in Riyadh.
LIV Golf, which in the past year has cast men’s professional golf into turmoil as it lured players away from the PGA Tour, said Monday that it would travel to Trump courses in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia during this year’s 14-stop season. Neither the league nor the Trump Organization announced the terms of their arrangement, but the schedule shows the Saudi-backed startup will remain allied with, and beneficial to, one of its foremost defenders and political patrons as he seeks a return to power.
Part of LIV’s scheduling approach, executives say, hinges on the relative scarcity of elite courses that can challenge players such as Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith — and the abundance of them in a Trump portfolio that is more accessible than many others to the new circuit. In a court filing last week, LIV Golf complained anew that the PGA Tour had warned "golfers, other tours, vendors, broadcasters, sponsors and virtually any other third parties” against doing business with the rebel league.