A strong geopolitical message, beyond sport and golf. The presence of Donald Trump and his son Eric at the Pro-Am of the third event of 2022 of the Arab Super League (supported by the Pif, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund) is controversial, and a lot.
The former president of the United States, not only in his field – the Trump National Golf Club – hosts a competition of the LIV Golf (a circuit as opposed to the American one, the PGA Tour), but takes part in it in all respects.
Donald Trump, golf
And in Bedminster, New Jersey, in the opening show he joins two big green players like Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, two of the ‘rebels’ who have accepted the millions of the Arab Super League.
A circumstance that creates discontent even among the families of the victims of September 11, who in the past few hours have shown their disappointment towards Saudi Arabia, “which through sport tries to clean up the image of an extremist country”
That of Trump, who already in the recent past invited golf champions “to accept the very rich offers of LIV Golf”, is a choice that comes thirteen days after Joe Biden’s meeting in Jeddah with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman .
After greeting each other with the fist on the arrival of the American president, there was a question and answer. With Biden contesting the killing of journalist Jamal Kashoggi. The replica? “We are not involved with the assassination and the US does not interfere.”
But that of Trump could also be read as a revenge against the PGA of America which in January 2021, after the events concerning the assault on the US Congress, dumped the tycoon. By deciding to organize the 2022 PGA Championship in Tulsa (Oklahoma), on the path of the Southern Hills Country Club and no longer in Bedminster.
“Trump embraces LIV Golf by favoring a new Saudi strategy” writes the New York Times, arguing that “after years of failures and rejections in the sport, he will host a Super League event that is not just about golf and appears provocative”
And to think that Trump wanted to create a Super League as early as the Eighties. With “The Donald” he tried to overthrow the NFL with a parallel championship. In 1984 he took possession of a franchise of Usfl, a spring league that played during the break of the NFL. He convinced the presidents to compete directly: it was a disaster
