Donald Trump remains confident in PGA-LIV merger as he hosts dinner for rebel golfers at his plush Miami course

By JAKE FENNER

President Donald Trump remains adamant that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf could come to some kind of an agreement despite a stalemate that threatens a merger between the two.

According to a report from The Guardian, the two sides exchanged correspondence and the Saudi PIF laid out a list of demands – which the PGA Tour found unacceptable.

Those demands included an assurance that LIV could continue to operate and that Saudi PIF chair Yasir Al-Rumayyan could become the co-chair of PGA Tour Enterprises.

However, considering the PGA Tour’s current standing is much better than the PIF’s golfing venture in terms of viewership and prestige, it’s not likely the PGA will allow those concessions.

On Thursday, Trump is set to host a dinner at his Doral course in Miami. Mid-flight, the President told reporters that he remains interested in merging the two tours.

‘Ultimately, hopefully, the two tours are going to merge. That’ll be good. I’m involved in that too,’ Trump told reporters on-board Air Force One. 

President Donald Trump remains confident in a merger deal between the PGA Tour and LIV

The President was picked up by his son, Eric, after landing at Doral in Miami on Thursday

Some golfers, including Brooks Koepka, have hinted at their hesitance about the future of LIV.

‘But hopefully we’re going to get the two tours to merge. You have the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour. And I think having them merge would be a great thing.’

After landing, Trump was whisked away by his Marine One helicopter to Doral – where he was picked up in a golf cart by his son, Eric.

Trump is expected to deliver a speech at a dinner with LIV players and other guests on Thursday before departing for Mar-a-Lago. 

LIV Golf is struggling to bring in viewership. Back in mid-March, the rebel tour tried competing with The Players and got a meager 34,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 just after primetime – compared to the 3.6million for NBC’s final round coverage.

Not only is the PGA Tour out-drawing LIV in the USA at a factor of 100-to-1, but many of the big money contracts given out to golfers enticing them to join the rebel league are set to expire.

As a result, many golfers have publicly indicated their disinterest or anger with the progress the tour has made.

Brooks Koepka publicly said he thought the tour would be ‘further along’ in its fourth season than it currently is. 

But LIV’s new CEO, Scott O’Neil remains steadfast in the belief that the tour won’t need a merger to survive: ‘Do we have to do a deal? No. It would be nice to do a deal, so long as we’re all focused on the same things.’

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Donald Trump remains confident in PGA-LIV merger as he hosts dinner for rebel golfers at his plush Miami course

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