Donald Trump has voiced support for the reintroduction of LIV Golf players onto the PGA Tour following the announcement that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is withdrawing its financial backing from the breakaway league. The US president expressed his desire to see top golfers who defected to LIV competing regularly against the PGA Tour's elite, as uncertainty surrounds the future of the Saudi-backed circuit.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump was asked whether the PGA Tour should welcome back golfers who switched to LIV, enticed by lucrative contracts underwritten by PIF. "Well, I do," he replied. "I'd love to see LIV. But I do believe that all of the golfers should be playing – the great golfers – should be playing against each other. I want to see Rory [McIlroy] playing Bryson DeChambeau. I want to see big Jon Rahm play Scottie [Scheffler], who is so great."
Trump added: "There's something nice about all of the players playing together. Now they'll all be accepted by the tour … they'll all be back on tour and it'll be great."
LIV Golf this week postponed its June tournament in New Orleans, with officials expressing hope to reschedule later in the year. The next event is slated for 7-10 May at Trump National just outside Washington. "I'm not sure what's happening with LIV, but they are playing at my course in two weeks, on the Potomac," Trump noted.
Meanwhile, 2023 Open champion Brian Harman stated that golfers who left the PGA Tour for LIV should face repercussions if they seek to return. Speaking at the PGA Tour's Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami, Harman acknowledged there would likely be a pathway back but deemed it premature to predict the specifics. "I would think that the fans want everyone to be playing together and, you know, time heals all wounds," the 39-year-old American said. However, he cautioned that "there's still some sentiment out here, especially with all the lawsuit stuff. That stuff's going to be tough to get past."
PGA Tour loyalists were angered when 11 golfers, including six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Tour in 2022, challenging their suspensions after signing lucrative contracts with LIV upon its founding in 2021. Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka has since returned to the PGA fold under a returning member programme that includes substantial financial penalties. Harman supports continued consequences for future returning players. "I think there has to be something," he said, adding it would help ease "bad blood and resentment."
Harman also noted uncertainty over how many golfers would abandon LIV. "I'm not sure that they're closing shop," he said. "The funding's drying up. They could secure funding from somewhere else and keep going. They have got a lot of big-name players over there, guys that move the needle." He added: "Until it's all done, until you've got guys that are actually calling and trying to come back to the tour, it's not really a problem that we're dealing with currently."
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth expressed relief at not having to decide on the matter amidst the tensions. "I know olive branches were given out, you know, a couple months ago. Brooks took them up on it. So I'm not sure what would now change," he said. Spieth noted that even with the loss of Saudi funding, "that doesn't necessarily mean that LIV's not going to still move on, too." He added, "I think there's just too many unknowns for me to have a good gauge on what would happen there." Spieth indicated that the issue of golfers returning from LIV is a difficult topic, and he is glad not to be among those setting terms for their returns. "There's just a lot of different things that happened over the last four years," he concluded. "I'm kind of glad I'm not in that room."
