Trump Encourages PGA Tour Loyalists To Defect To LIV Golf

Former President Donald Trump urged “loyal” PGA Tour golfers to jump ship to Saudi-backed LIV Golf before it’s too late for them to make money from the move. 

“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,” He shared on his new platform Truth Social.

“If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were,” he added. 

Multiple big-name golfers including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Dustin Johnson have been lured to the LIV Golf with enormous contracts that are backed by $2 billion in funding from the government of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. 

The tournament has been criticized for their association with the country, which is accused of human rights violations for the 2018 murder of journalist Kamal Khashoggi. 

“This is an opportunity that gives me a chance to have the most balance in my life going forward and I think this is going to do a lot of good for the game,” Mikelson commented about his move to the rival tournament. “Nobody here condones human rights violations, nobody here is trying to make up for anything.” 

The PGA suspended the golfers who joined LIV Golf for the duration of the PGA Tour’s current season, but denied that human rights violations were the motivation. 

“The PGA TOUR’s decision to suspend has no connection to the Saudi funding. We’re simply upholding our Tournament Regulations and doing what is in the best interest of the entire membership and the TOUR as a whole,” the organization said in a statement. 

Trump, who has been feuding with the PGA since they canceled a tournament at his Bedminster course after the Capitol riot, is holding one of LIV’s tournaments at the New Jersey location at the end of July. 

LIV Golf’s team championship will be located at the former president’s Miami golf course, the Blue Monster at Trump National, in October.

Marie Finn