In the least surprising news of the LIV Golf era, Donald Trump says the Saudi-funded series is “a great thing”.
The former US president owns two golf courses which will host LIV events in 2022, the first of which is this week at Bedminster – a venue that was meant to hold May’s PGA Championship before it was ditched due to Trump’s involvement in last year’s attack on the Capitol.
“I think LIV has been a great thing for Saudi Arabia, for the image of Saudi Arabia,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal as the players prepared to tee up in New Jersey. “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.”
The 76-year-old has come under fire for agreeing to host this week’s third event of the series, as well as the season-ending Team Championship at Doral, due to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 9/11.
As with the second LIV event at Portland, there will be protests in Bedminster from families affected by the 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.
But Trump batted on regardless. “The publicity that they’ve gotten, more than anything, has been a great thing for them,” he added. “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.”
Protesters have also released a campaign criticising Trump for agreeing to host the LIV Golf events. The short ad points out that this week’s tournament “is taking place 50 miles from Ground Zero” and features people holding pictures of family members killed in the attacks while one asks: “How much money to turn your back on your own country?”
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