Outcast to powerbroker: How, and why, Donald Trump is now in control of professional golf's future

President Donald Trump is in control, and he knows it. For all the questions about what’s happening to professional golf and where it’s heading, there is no doubt who has become a deciding figure in its future—and how that influences all the parties involved. We saw it last week at the White House, encapsulated by a scene in the East Room, Trump walking out with Tiger Woods before a crowd gathered for a Black History Month celebration. Trump encouraged the group to chant Tiger’s name as Woods sheepishly stood off to Trump’s left. Woods eventually acknowledged the cheers before retreating with unmistakable relief from a spotlight he wasn’t looking for. The explanation for the 15-time major champion’s presence was simple: Golf’s civil war had reached such desperate straits that even Woods—perhaps sports' most fiercely independent icon—was willing to participate in a photo opp if it meant staying in good stead with the man beside him.

The PGA Tour doubled down on that sentiment hours later, releasing the following statement from Woods, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Adam Scott:

"We have just concluded a constructive working session at the White House with President Trump and H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we have initiated a discussion about the reunification of golf. We are committed to moving as quickly as possible and will share additional details as appropriate. We share a passion for the game and the importance of reunification. Most importantly, we all want the best players in the world playing together more often and are committed to doing all we can to deliver that outcome for our fans."

"Initiate" may seem odd for talks now dragging into their third year. Yet the word choice reveals a crucial shift—with Trump now at the table, golf's endless war might finally end. And the very man professional golf publicly rejected has become its unlikely peacemaker.

Stretching back to last summer, there has been belief in golf circles that the Department of Justice under Trump would be more willing to greenlight a potential PGA Tour-Public Investment Fund deal, given then-President Biden’s DOJ was investigating the tour for possible antitrust regulations. But Trump taking such a hands-on approach to the negotiations in the early days of his second presidency—initially meeting with Monahan and Scott at the White House on Feb. 6 then holding a four-hour follow-up on Feb. 20—has been unexpected, with critics wondering about potential conflicts of interest. As to why and why now, the answers are simple. For the tour, it needs Trump’s blessing to secure a deal. For Trump, it’s business … and personal.

Before his 2016 presidential bid, Trump was widely regarded as a champion of golf in America—a businessman willing to invest in the sport while others retreated. He also had broken into golf’s inner sanctum. In 2012, the USGA selected Trump National Bedminster to host the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open. Two years later, he claimed an even grander victory: The PGA of America awarded its PGA Championship to the same New Jersey venue for 2022. And when Trump acquired Scotland’s Turnberry Resort, which had already hosted four Open Championships with a fifth Open visiting in 2020 considered a formality, Trump appeared to become one of sport’s most potent forces.

Yet during his candidacy and first term as president, Trump lost his grip on the sport. The first to pull the plug was the PGA of America, relocating (before canceling) its Grand Slam of Golf exhibition at Trump’s Southern California course, mere weeks after Trump’s campaign launch included controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants. The following year, Cadillac did not renew its sponsorship of the WGC, and the PGA Tour moved the tournament from Trump’s property at Doral—which had hosted the Miami tour stop for the previous 55 years—to another venue in Mexico City. The R&A moved Turnberry out of its Open rota, stating the claret jug would not return until the championship’s focus would be on the course instead of its owner. And following the attack on the United States Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, the PGA of America announced it would no longer hold the 2022 PGA at Bedminster. The very establishment he had worked decades to join, spending millions to build and buy his way into their ranks, had turned its back on him.

While the sport’s traditional powers had closed their doors, another faction saw opportunity in Trump’s fall from grace. A group that didn’t just welcome his polarizing presence—they were counting on it.

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Trump is brazenly transactional. Even after Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, Saudi Arabia viewed him as a valuable political asset, calculating that his potential return to the presidency merited cultivation. As the Saudis launched the LIV Golf League, not only did they bring its tournaments to his properties with considerable financial compensation but they provided him the legitimacy in professional golf he craved. LIV Golf secured Trump’s backing before it announced its player roster, incorporating his Bedminster course as one of eight venues in its inaugural 2022 series. Within a month, Trump Doral was designated as the season-finale host, and by the following year, a third Trump property near Washington, D.C. joined the rotation. Trump already had a tangled history with Saudi Arabia. During his presidency, Trump maintained a close relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the relationship’s durability extended beyond his presidency, exemplified by Trump’s son-in-law and former senior aide, Jared Kushner, receiving a reported $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for his equity firm, according to the New York Times.

While the American golf establishment recoiled from LIV Golf’s Saudi connections, the venture gained credibility through its association with a recent U.S. president with a loyal and vocal base. Saudi Arabia did the math no one else wanted to calculate in a post-Jan. 6 world. While Trump’s golf properties boast legitimate credentials for hosting big-time tournaments, their architectural and competitive merits are incidental to Saudi Arabia’s goals of leveraging sports to forge bonds between state-aligned entities and, crucially for Saudi Arabia, securing de facto legitimacy among roughly half of America’s electorate.

The bet paid off. In 2024, Trump won back the presidency and captured the popular vote—a feat he hadn’t achieved in his previous two campaigns. Following years of tension with the Biden administration, the Saudis now had an ally again in the White House and—technically—a business partner.

The choreography of power became visible in the days following the November 2024 election. Monahan shared a round of golf with Trump at Trump International in West Palm Beach. The next day, Trump appeared ringside at a UFC fight, seated beside PIF governor and LIV Golf chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan. In February 2025, the PGA Tour announced it had asked Trump to join the negotiations with PIF, setting up the meeting between Monahan, Woods, Scott and Al-Rumayyan at the White House last week.

When speaking at Torrey Pines earlier this month, Monahan was asked why Trump needed to be brought into the negotiations. “You look at his passion for the game, his knowledge and understanding of the game, he's very familiar with the PGA Tour, he's very familiar with the team at the Public Investment Fund. Like us, he has a very clear picture of what should happen, and he wants to help,” Monahan said. “The game means that much to him. And he's the ultimate dealmaker, so having him in the mix is a great thing for the game.”

Sources with the PGA Tour believe Trump is imperative to talks, given his ties with PIF and Al-Rumayyan. While those with the tour say more progress has been made than has been reported in the media, they also recognize that the tour has blown past its originally stated date to have a deal finalized (Dec. 31, 2023) and believe Trump can be the one to bring it together. Despite Trump’s business association with LIV, those with the tour are adamant the president is ultimately on the tour’s side—an opinion Rory McIlroy publicly voiced earlier this month at Torrey Pines. Those with LIV, meanwhile, believe the league’s backing of Trump when the rest of golf disregarded him won’t be forgotten by the president.

Then there is what’s in it for Trump. He is an ardent golf fan and expressed this week that “it would be nice to see the best golfers play against each other.” Conversely, this is Trump’s chance to not only reassert himself at the game’s table but to sit at its head. LIV Golf is hosting two events at his venues this season, and sources familiar with PGA Tour matters tell Golf Digest there’s a belief the tour could bring back Trump Doral into the schedule. Asked about this at Torrey Pines, Monahan responded, “Listen, we've played at Trump venues in the past. While we haven't talked about that with the president, I certainly see a day where we're adding Trump venues to our schedule, certainly.”

Additionally, there is Turnberry. Trump’s public stance on Turnberry’s Open prospects has oscillated wildly—from reluctant acceptance that it won’t happen to claiming at LIV’s 2022 finale that the R&A was eager to return. The R&A’s response was swift: “There is no change to our position on this.” Behind the scenes, Trump’s maneuvering has been more calculated. The New York Times revealed his 2018 attempt to leverage diplomatic channels, pressing Ambassador Woody Johnson to influence British officials in steering the Open back to Turnberry. While Trump denied the report, Johnson—the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune—offered a carefully parsed response, stating only that he “followed the ethical rules and requirements of my office at all times.” While the PGA Tour or DP World Tour has no jurisdiction over the R&A’s decisions, having those voices vouch for Trump would add weight to his Open candidacy.

There is also the matter of ego. For one who cares about his standing in the game, Trump is keenly aware, sources with the tour tell Golf Digest, what orchestrating a deal to unify professional golf could do for his legacy.

As for where the negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF stand, those familiar with the PGA Tour have told Golf Digest last week’s White House meeting didn’t go as intended, although hope remains that a deal will eventually get done. Trump himself added an update on Tuesday, saying, "They’re gonna have to get together," he said. "They’ve had a lot of discussion back and forth. They both are meaning well, and a deal will ultimately happen. I think it will happen pretty quickly.

"They are all great people, and they want to work it out," Trump added. "So, if I can help work it out … I don’t get anything out of it. I can help them work it out. I just think golf ... it’s very much an individual sport, and you want to see the best players playing against each other and not playing in two different locations."

If a deal ultimately comes to fruition and what it will look like remain unclear. But last week’s symbolism of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour coming together, and who brought them together, was unmistakable. Golf’s one-time pariah had transformed into its ultimate powerbroker.