Golf and the Gulf: The War Gets Personal for Trump

What do golf and the Gulf have to do with each other? The answer is LIV Golf, the professional men's golf tour financed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. One of the earliest supporters of LIV Golf was cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. While the PGA Tour was cancelling events at Trump-owned golf courses, LIV agreed to host events at Trump's properties. Trump went on to become an enthusiastic cheerleader for the new tour. However, LIV Golf now appears to be falling victim to Trump's war against Iran. The Public Investment Fund has announced that it will no longer fund LIV after this season, and the tour appears to be on the verge of collapse. Few passions are as close to Trump's heart as golf, so this is likely to be a significant blow to him.

As is frequently the case with my blog posts, I need to offer a caveat. I know nothing about golf and have never even played it. The closest that I have ever been to golf is driving a golf cart around at a charity golf tournament, providing refreshments to participants. My general attitude towards golf is that of Furio Giunta in The Sopranos: "Stupid-a-fucking game!" So, I apologize in advance for anything I get wrong about the sport.

LIV's first season was in 2022. That year, it held events at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and Trump National Doral Miami. The next year, it added a stop at Trump National Golf Course Washington, DC, which is actually located near Sterling, VA. In subsequent years, the event was renamed LIV Virginia, and this year, LIV Virginia is scheduled to begin on May 7. That event will now take place under a cloud (assuming that it still takes place).

Trump's enthusiasm for golf is well-known. When he leaves the White House, his golf clubs are his most frequent destinations. However, Trump was estranged from the PGA Tour in 2021 when a scheduled tournament was moved from Trump's Bedminster, N.J. course in the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump immediately turned his loyalties towards LIV Golf. In 2022, demonstrating how one should never take business advice from Trump, he "truthed" on his Truth Social social media network that:

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. 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. Good luck to all, and congratulations to really talented Cam Smith on his incredible WIN!

While there was an attempted merger between the PGA and LIV tours in 2023, it never came to pass. Now, those golfers who took Trump's advice will be in the same circumstances as the employees of his failed airline, casinos, university, and steak brand. Golf Digest reported yesterday that several LIV players have contacted the PGA to discuss a potential return. For some, there will be a path back but it will be very restrictive and may involve temporary bans and large fines. Others may simply be out of luck, having burned their bridges with the PGA.

Two weeks ago, golf commentator Trey Wingo tweeted on X that:

BREAKING: Sources indicate LIV is preparing to wind down operations as the Public Investment Fund (PIF) reassesses its broader strategy amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

A recent board meeting in New York focused on the league’s near-term future, including whether to cease operations following this week’s event in Mexico City or continue through the end of the season.

Importantly, this is not a reflection of LIV’s commercial performance. The league was fully funded through 2030 — this is a top-down strategic shift driven by evolving geopolitical priorities. MBS pulled the plug.

"MBS," of course, refers to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund stepped down as a member of LIV's board. Today, LIV is expected to officially announce that the Saudi funding will stop at the end of the current season.

Undoubtedly, Saudi Arabia is facing financial pressure as a result of the United States-Israel war against Iran, which has led to both Iran and the United States blocking the crucial Strait of Hormuz and preventing most oil exports from the Persian Gulf. A LIV tournament is scheduled to take place from August 6-9 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. As Former ESPN star Pablo Torre wrote:

Trump’s war with Iran leading to the financial collapse of LIV Golf — months before Trump could host this year’s LIV event at his own course in Bedminster — might be the thing that convinces him that this war was, uh, a bad idea.

The Saudi move to withhold funding raises a question of whether this was purely a financial move motivated by funding shortages or was an effort to send a message to Trump. While Torre mentioned the Bedminster event, Trump is expecting to spend next week presiding over LIV Golf Virginia. Now the biggest issue will be the future of the tour. If the Saudis wanted to get Trump's attention, surely they have done so.

Trump has repeatedly brushed off concerns that Americans are paying high gas prices — yesterday prices at the pump again reached a recent high — and, according to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has told his aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran. An extended blockade will certainly cause even further increases in the price of gasoline and could collapse the entire global economy. While neither of those things may be of concern to Trump, negative impacts on golf and his golf courses certainly will be.

On April 15, Saudi's Public Investment Fund approved a new five-year plan that is focused on the kingdom's domestic economy. Al-Rumayyan said that "Local investment should be 80% and we aim for international investment to be 20%." This will leave less money available for investments such as LIV Golf, and will likely impact other expected U.S. expenditures. Last week, for instance, Saudi Arabia pulled out of a deal to provide $200 million to the New York City Metropolitan Opera House.

Saudi Arabia may be ending its funding to LIV purely due to economic reasons. Or, given Trump's close association with LIV, the move might be a little tug on one of the many strings they have attached to him. Trump and his family have been shameless in seeking funding from the Gulf Arab states, Saudi Arabia in particular. Last year, Forbes reported that:

Trump may not have had any interests in Saudi Arabia at the time, but he had done sporadic business with Saudi Arabia, offloading the Plaza Hotel to a Saudi prince in 1995 and selling a set of condos to the Saudi government in 2001. Trump’s ties to the Arab nation grew stronger in the wake of the Khashoggi murder, however, especially after his first term in office ended. Since then, the president and his family struck at least nine deals with Saudi investors, pushing millions into the president’s golf properties, tens of millions into his licensing business, and billions into private-equity funds, according to Forbes calculations. In 2024 alone, Trump and his extended family collected an estimated $50 million from deals connected to Saudi Arabia.

Trump's financial ties to Saudi Arabia are such that it is reasonable to wonder whether his decisions are made to benefit the United States, Saudi Arabia, or Trump personally. The LIV funding issue demonstrates that, at any time, Saudi Arabia is capable of reminding Trump of their investment in him. America's founding fathers were well-aware of such conflicts of interest, which is why they prohibited emoluments in the U.S. Constitution. Throughout both of his terms, Trump has flaunted the Constitution and openly collected emoluments. It has been a failure of other branches of government that nothing has been done about Trump's illegal activities.

Trump loves golf and he loves money. The LIV tour combined both, providing professional golf and business for Trump's golf courses. With a single decision, Saudi Arabia has brought an end to this serendipitous arrangement. Whether this is a result of finances or politics remains to be seen. In the meantime, not all is lost for Trump. The PGA Tour is back at Trump National Doral. That tournament is actually starting today. Neither a failing economy nor an ongoing war is likely to keep Trump away from his golf club this weekend.