The future of golf may well be decided tonight, with serious ramifications for the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
Rory McIlroy has raised concerns over the LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger. (Image: Getty.)
If Donald Trump becomes the President of the United States for a second time, he will be held to his vow that he could solve the LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger issues in “15 minutes”.
There are less than 24 hours before the next US president is elected in, as citizens flock to the polls in order to cast their vote for either Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
And Trump, a self-confessed golf fanatic, has pledged to solve the problems concerning any merger within the sport. Golf’s civil war has split fans and players between the traditional PGA Tour and the breakaway Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit, but there is optimism that a conclusion is not too far away.
The rival tours have been locked in talks over a merger for over a year, despite a reported £1billion breakthrough in recent days.
Rory McIlroy has raised concerns throughout the process, and his most recent complaints were pointed at the lawyers involved and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The DOJ have already pledged to investigate any suspicion of anti-competition as a result of the merger and should Harris enter the Oval Office, her administration will hand off any decision on a merger to the DOJ, who are in favour of the current multi-tour setup, according to The Telegraph.
Trump, on the other hand, has aligned himself with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF). Five LIV events were played on Trump courses in the series’ first two years and he has played a round with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
Donald Trump could decide the future of golf. (Image: Getty)
According to Trump, he could resolve the matter in just minutes. “Well, I’m going to really work on other things, to be honest with you. I think we have much bigger problems than that,” the former President told the Let’s Go! podcast.
“But I do think we should have one tour, and they should have the best players in that tour – meaning you have many tours, but your primary tour… Because when Scottie (Scheffler) wins or when they win on the other tour, we have a lot of… There’s a lot of great players. I mean, beyond great. It’s really top, top players on LIV.
“It would be nice if they could all play together. It’s terrible when somebody’s shut out of a major. It’s terrible. But they’re very happy with Saudi. They’re over there and they’re very happy about it. They really are. It’s amazing.
“If you speak to them, they’re happy with their decisions. They made more money than they probably could ever have made. They got checks from, in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars. So it’s hard to say, Gee, I’m going to be happy because I can’t play in a certain location. That’s not that important.
“But I think it’ll come together. Yeah, I could certainly help, but I could probably get it done. I would say it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done.”
