Why a Donald Trump victory would be good for golf’s merger deal

Regardless of the identity of the Republican nominee, you are more likely to find the vast majority of the elite male professional golfers switching to a Pinnacle Gold than ever voting for a Democrat in a US election. And this time around there is even more reason for these multi-millionaires to cheer on a President Trump buggy ride back into the White House.

In short, if the controversial 78-year-old is successful in gaining another term, the Department of Justice would be much more minded to giving the green light to a deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund and so herald peace for a game that has for so long been divided.

Of course, there will be many who believe that the ending of golf’s civil war should not take priority in this face-off, but professional men’s golf lives in its own bubble and as players watch the results roll in, they will not be thinking of Barack Obama’s statements or those of Bill Clinton, Joe Biden or even Bruce Springsteen – but of Rory McIlroy’s words from last month.

When asked what he believes is holding up the negotiations between the Tour and the LIV Golf League backers, the world No 3 sounded certain. “The Department of Justice,” McIlroy replied. “And maybe different interests from the players’ side.”

Now the DOJ and Patrick Cantlay happen to be handy foursomes partners. The former has pledged to investigate any alliance between Sawgrass and PIF on the grounds of anti-competition. Meanwhile, the latter has been cast as the leader of the players – some of whom, including Cantlay, are on the Tour’s policy board and will have the final say to rubber-stamp any agreement put in front of the DOJ – who want the chaos to continue.

Why? Because earnings have zoomed up those rickety stairs, past the bridge room and through the clubhouse roof since LIV started hurling money around like ripped-up scorecards in the May medal, and it appears they cannot bear the players who were savvy/shameless enough to take the Saudi bounty to return to their fold without the total loss of finance and dignity.

For some reason, they cannot see that the status quo is unsustainable and that the viewing public is turning away from all but the majors. Instead, they desperately crave for this absurd once-in-a-history cash grab to carry on indefinitely.

However, if, as widely expected, Tiger Woods eventually decides to row in behind McIlroy, the Tour supremos and the Saudis, the resistance will have to return their cudgels to the lockers and then it will be the DOJ as the last remaining obstacle.

And this is where Trump getting back into power would come in, as an editorial in The New York Times neatly summed up.

It is not that Kamala Harris would enter the Oval Office as the first non-golfing president for almost 50 years – since Jimmy Carter – that would be the issue, but how her administration would differ in the direction of the DOJ when it comes to any merger.

“The DOJ is a creature of the executive branch, and with its law enforcement and prosecutorial role, it can exercise significant discretion and pursue the priorities of the current administration,” Jodi Balsam, the Brooklyn Law School professor, told The New York Times. “When a new administration comes in, whether it’s Harris or Trump, they can dictate the priorities of the DOJ.”

A cynic might be forgiven for suspecting that the DOJ would have so much on its plate with Trump, that golf would not be the burning issue it has been. After all, Trump has his own criminal cases to contend with and has also stated his intention to use the DOJ to wage retribution over his political enemies. Pick one’s battles. It might taste bitter for those public servants to do his bidding when it comes to LIV, but it cannot be questioned that, as he has declared, “these Saudis are my friends”.

After the golf establishment ostracised Trump and his courses – the PGA Tour stopped playing at Trump Doral, the PGA of America abandoned staging the US PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster and the R&A sent Trump Turnberry so far down the heap in the Open rota that it is fighting with the worms for recognition – the Saudis stuck by him. In the first two years of LIV, five events were played on the Trump courses, including two grand finals.

Not only that, but Trump was allowed to show up in his Maga hat and use the competitions almost like staging points on his election rally. He teed it up alongside Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor and LIV chairman, in the pro-ams and was greeted with open arms by the LIV players. They made him feel special again in a golf setting and, together with the $2 billion that PIF invested in his son-in-law’s equity firm, acted just like golfing pals should.

So of course, Trump would be in their corner. It would be payback time and the fact that Al-Rumayyan would, with a deal in place, command a huge influence on the direction the pro sport takes, the Trump portfolio would only benefit. It owns 15 courses and, as its website declares, these span “from Scotland to Palm Beach, Los Angeles to Dubai”. “Trump Golf is home to a collection of the most iconic golf properties and championship courses in the world,” it adds.

Everyone would be a winner. Except Turnberry. Because even if Trump became emperor of the galaxy, the R&A would still choose hell first. In golf, you simply cannot win every time.