Donald Trump makes bold claim about PGA Tour x LIV Golf merger - "I could probably get it done in 15 minutes"
Donald Trump, who has hosted and played golf at some LIV Golf events, believes he could have an impact on the negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF. PIF is the funding arm behind LIV, and they've agreed to a deal with the PGA Tour to help usher golf into the future. That agreement happened in the summer of 2023, and they've been working on actually getting the deal done since then.
Trump, who was known for his business deals before he entered American politics, is confident he could get the deal done fast. He said on the Let's Go! podcast with Tom Brady, Jim Gray, and Bill Belichick (via Bunkered):
“I think it’ll come together (PGA Tour-LIV deal). Yeah, I could certainly help, but I could probably get it done. I would say it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done."
Trump went on to say that it's terrible that some LIV players can't play Major championships as easily. The former president also said he believes golf needs just one tour where the best players play:
“You have many tours, but your primary tour… Because when Scotty wins or when they win on the other tour, we have a lot of… there’s a lot of great players. I mean, beyond great. It’s really top, top players on LIV."
One such player on LIV Golf is Bryson DeChambeau. Trump played with the LIV star in his YouTube series Break 50. The former president added that it would be nice if "they could all play together."
Donald Trump claims LIV players are happy on the tour
Despite some issues that Donald Trump alluded to, such as the difficulty in getting into Majors (the former president said they're "shut out", but they have opportunities to qualify in many cases), he believes LIV Golf players aren't unhappy.
He said (via Bunkered):
"They’re very happy with Saudi. They’re over there and they’re very happy about it. They really are. It’s amazing."
Trump has been involved with LIV before, and he went on to say:
“If you speak to them, they’re happy with their decisions. They made more money than they probably could ever have made. They got checks from, in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars. So it’s hard to say, gee, ‘I’m going to be happy because I can’t play in a certain location’. That’s not that important."
Players like Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, and Sergio Garcia signed lucrative contracts to join LIV Golf, and Donald Trump believes that's more important. If and when they can agree to a merger, Trump believes everyone will be even happier.