Lee Westwood has cast doubts about Donald Trump’s capability to broker a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Westwood, who jumped ship for the Saudi-backed LIV circuit in 2022, was referring to the President’s claim in November that resolving golf’s ongoing feud “would take me the better part of 15 minutes”.
Although a meeting at the White House in February brought together PGA officials, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and Trump, no breakthrough was achieved even after four hours of talks. Despite the optimism from PGA commissioner Jay Monahan and golf legend Tiger Woods, former No.1 Westwood has shared his scepticism about Trump’s influence.
“He’s a keen golfer but I don’t think he has that kind of influence,” Westwood said to i. “What can he do? He can’t force the PGA Tour to make a deal.
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“I don’t think the PGA Tour want the deal. To do a deal both sides have to move on a few things but I don’t think they want that.”
These sentiments sharply contrast with those of PGA heavyweight Rory McIlroy, who had initially supported Trump’s idea of unifying the two competitive golf sectors following his election win.
When asked about the possibility of a merger, McIlroy told Sky Sports: “He might be able to! He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world beside him, so he might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved too.
“But from the outside looking in I think it’s probably a little bit less complicated than it actually is, but obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia, he’s got a great relationship with golf, he’s a lover of golf, so maybe.
“Who knows? But as the president of the United States again he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”
A few months later, McIlroy was even more optimistic. “The president, he can do a lot of things,” he said in February.
“He has direct access to Yasir’s boss. Not many people have that. Not many people can say, ‘I want you to get this deal done and by the way, I’m speaking to your boss, I’m going to tell him the same thing’.
“There’s a few things that he can do. He can be influential. He loves the game of golf… I think whenever he says something they listen, and I think that’s a big thing.”
However, McIlroy’s hope seemed to wane following the White House meeting. He suggested to ESPN that despite the efforts, the sport was still no closer to unity under Trump’s leadership.
“I don’t think it’s ever felt that close, but I don’t, it doesn’t feel like it’s any closer,” McIlroy admitted. “Look, I think it takes two to tango. So if one party is willing and ready and the other isn’t, it sort of makes it tough.”
