In the press conference before the 2025 Genesis Invitational, Rory McIlroy stated, ”Yeah I played golf with him a few weeks ago.” McIlroy had played golf with him before the inauguration, sometime in January. Post that McIlroy also gave another stunning update about the President’s thoughts on the current golfing scenario, “I learnt that he’s not a fan of the LIV format.” That was surprising. For two reasons.
POTUS has been seen with a lot of LIV stars, playing in Pro-AMs. He has close ties with the Saudis. He has praised LIV in the past. “I think the (PGA) Tour made a major mistake by playing games,” Trump told reporters. “They have unlimited money, and they love it. And it’s been great publicity for Saudi Arabia. They’ve been great for golf. The Saudis have been fantastic for golf. And they’re going to make it a big part of, inside their country, they’re going to do some great courses,” he said in 2023.
Secondly, his courses have been a part of the LIV Golf schedule every year since its inauguration. In 2023, Trump National Golf Course, Washington DC, and Trump National Golf Course, Bedminster hosted LIV events. The Trump National Doral Golf Course in South Florida hosted an LIV event in 2023 and 2024 and is slated to host the 5th LIV Golf tournament this year on April 6th. “I was like, but you’ve hosted their events. He was like, yeah, but it doesn’t mean that I like it. So I think he’s on the Tour’s side,” McIlroy said further. Notably, Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott recently met Donald Trump at the White House. It was a positive meeting, as Scott told the media at the Genesis Invitational.
“It’s just a positive thing that the President of the United States is such a lover of the game of golf and understands some of the challenges facing the professional game at the moment,” Scott said. Even Scott mentioned that the President is a Tour fan.
“The president is passionate about (golf), owns several golf properties, fabulous destinations around the world. He has a relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Public Investment Fund. I genuinely think he’s a fan of the PGA Tour as well and he’s certainly a fan of Tiger Woods. Most people are,” Scott shared. Trump and Woods also played golf together ahead of the Super Bowl. Even Monahan is affirmative of the deal happening sooner now.
“It was a very productive visit,” Monahan said in advance of the Genesis Invitational. “I think you all have been around him enough to know how passionate he is about the game of golf.I think the meeting ultimately gets us one step closer to a deal being done, but there’s a lot more work to do. Hopefully you sense my enthusiasm as I talk about it today.”
The LIV Golfer, who has a slowly developing social media career on YouTube, invited Donald Trump to be a part of his ‘Break 50’ video series. The video was a hit amongst his followers, who were ecstatic to see Trump in a very familiar setting, rather than an official one. “Man, his iron play was great. I can’t tell you the number of times he stuffed it on the green within 30 feet in regulation. His driver swing is the most repeatable thing I have ever seen. I wish mine was that repeatable. Really, I do,” exclaimed DeChambeau, when asked about Trump’s golfing s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s. And the friendship goes beyond golf.
They were seen together yet again during the launch of Elon Musk’s Space X. DeChambeau shared an Instagram post stating, “I’ve never been so inspired #spacex”. The duo had flown together with Kai Trump, her friend, and her father and Donald Trump’s son Trump Jr in a private jet.
His closeness even prompted Flushing It to jokingly quips that DeChambeau could very well be part of the administration in some form or the other. But if Rory McIlroy’s revelation before the Genesis Invitational is taken into account, there is competition involved. What do you think?
