Donald Trump to join up with Bryson DeChambeau as latest LIV Golf recruit
There was never any genuine doubt that Donald Trump would turn up for this week’s Saudi rebel circuit event here at his eponymous country club, but few expected the former President to play in the pro-am.
On Thursday at 10am, he will tee it up together with Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson so the cameras will spring into manic and global action as this third £20 million LIV Golf Series week starts with a bang.
Protests from 9/11 families and survivors are planned for the tournament taking less than 50 miles from Ground Zero and media outlets here are abuzz reporting that the Department of Justice is investigating Trump’s actions leading up to rioters storming Capitol Hill 18 months ago, but that will not stop him from performing a full and active role at the course named Trump National Bedminster.
This Tom Fazio layout was primed to stage the US PGA Championship in May - Trump’s first male major - but the day after the Jan 6 riots, the PGA of America switched the event to Southern Hills, Tulsa, saying it could “damage their brand”. Trump settled with the PGA last December with the joint organisers of the Ryder Cup praising the family’s “contribution to golf” and calling Bedminster “a major-worthy course”.
However, Trump will relish this chance to cock-a-snoop to the establishment as the breakaway league cranks up a few more gears with the additions of, among others, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson, the Swede who was forced to stand down as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain last week after deciding to accept a £40m offer to join LIV.
Trump has been fulsome in his support for the Greg Norman enterprise of late, urging players to sign up with LIV as soon as possible to cash in on the upfront fees before what he sees as “the inevitable merger” with the PGA Tour comes to pass. On Tuesday, Trump indicated the benefits the Kingdom are reaping for this huge investment, which will total more than £2billion in the first three years.
“I think LIV has been a great thing for Saudi Arabia, for the image of Saudi Arabia,” he told Wall Street Journal. “I think it's going to be an incredible investment from that standpoint, and that's more valuable than lots of other things because you can't buy that — even with billions of dollars.
“I do think that the publicity that they've gotten, more than anything, has been a great thing for them. I think the publicity they've gotten is worth billions of dollars. It's one of the hottest things to have happened in sports, and sports is a big part of life.”
Trump’s son Eric will also play in the pro-am grouping with DeChambeau, who won the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot in the adjoining state of New York.
