- Trump's Bedminster golf club is set to host an event for a Saudi-backed golf league.
- The LIV Golf Invitational has sought to undercut the PGA's dominance of professional golf.
- As president, Trump repeatedly defended Saudi Arabia after Jamal Khashoggi's brutal murder.
Former President Donald Trump's Bedminster private country club is set to host a golf tournament for a nascent Saudi-backed professional league that is aiming to undercut the Professional Golf Association.
According to Sports Illustrated, the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, will host one of four US-based events for what will be called the LIV Golf Invitational. The event in Bedminster is scheduled for July 29-31.
The Saudi government through its financial arm, the Public Investment Fund, is a major supporter and backer of the league, according to multiple reports.
As president, Trump repeatedly defended keeping US ties to Saudi Arabia in the wake of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi's brutal murder.
"It's a complex issue, it's a shame, but it is what it is," Trump said in 2018. "I'm not going to destroy the world economy and I'm not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with Saudi Arabia.
The event is also a major boost for Bedminster, which was set to host the PGA Championship, a marquee major tournament event for the US' highest-profile professional golf league. The PGA, which worked with Trump for years, stripped the club of the championship after the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.
"Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster," Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America, told The Associated Press at the time. "The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave."
The US has long had a tenuous relationship with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has been a key ally in a vitally important region, but restrictions on women's rights and broader apparent human rights abuses have always made it a complicated union. The murder of Khashoggi, who was critical of the royal family and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, only exacerbated those tensions.
The Post previously reported that the CIA concluded that Mohammed ordered the killing. Turkish intelligence recorded audio of a bone saw dismembering Khashoggi's body as it was snuck out of the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul.
Trump's Bedminster golf club hosted the U.S. Women's Open in 2017, an event he attended as president. But his golf courses have previously taken hits due to his politics, including the PGA tour's decision in 2016 to move a championship event scheduled for Trump National Doral in Miami to Mexico City.