Donald Trump was right.
Those are four words rarely strung together.
But the former president and Palm Beach resident, who has been indicted and faced several other investigations, predicted last July that LIV Golf and the PGA Tour would merge.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in July.
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Trump told golfers to “take the money now,” predicting the Tour would eventually put aside its pride and work with LIV. Trump’s anger at professional golf stems from the PGA Tour moving its World Golf Championship event out of its course at Doral and to Mexico in 2017, and the PGA of America moving the 2022 PGA Championship out of its club in Bedminster, New Jersey, after the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the US Capitol.
Trump’s support has been more than vocal. Last year his properties at Doral and Bedminster were used to hold LIV events. This year LIV added Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Northern Virginia to this year’s schedule.
In each, Trump has played in the pro-am the day before the start of the tournament.
Trump praised LIV and the Saudis for doing “a fantastic job” following his pro-am at Doral in November.
“It’s big time, and it’s big time money. It’s unlimited money,” he said. “And it’s different. You hear the music?”
Trump’s dealings with LIV Golf got the attention of the Justice Department, The New York Times reported last month. The Times said a subpoena was issued to the Trump Organization seeking records pertaining to Trump’s dealings with LIV.
“I’ve known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia. They’ve been friends of mine for a long time,” Trump said last year during LIV’s stop at his Bedminster course. “They’ve invested in many American companies. They own big percentages of many, many American companies. And frankly what they’re doing for golf is so great, what they’re doing for the players is so great, the salaries are going to go way up.”
Tom D’Angelo is senior sports columnist for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump’s LIV Golf, PGA Tour prediction pans out nearly a year later