“I’ve known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia, they’ve been friends of mine for a long time.”
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Before teeing off with Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and his own son, Eric, in the LIV Golf Invitational Series pro-am on Thursday, former President of the United States Donald Trump spoke to ESPN about hosting the controversial circuit at his club in New Jersey.
“I’ve known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia, they’ve been friends of mine for a long time,” explained Trump. “They’ve invested in many American companies, they own big percentages of many, many American companies, and frankly what they’re doing for golf is so great.
“The PGA was not loved by a lot of the players, as you know, for a long time,” he claimed. “Now they’ve got an alternative and nobody would have ever known there would be a gold rush like this.”
Last week Trump signed on to Truth Social to implore golfers to take the guaranteed money now and join the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded series, and he doubled-down on Thursday.
“Remember this, if there’s a merger, the people that didn’t come will never get anything except a thank you from the people who took advantage of them,” said Trump.
It’s important to note a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is not currently on the table and has not been discussed.
A New York City native, Trump’s comments come just days after families of 9/11 victims and survivors sent a letter to condemn the former president for hosting the Saudi-funded series. The letter expressed their “extreme pain, frustration and anger” and even included a quote from Trump’s 2016 comments on the 9/11 terrorist attacks from a segment on Fox & Friends:
“ … Who blew up the World Trade Center? It wasn’t the Iraqis – it was Saudi. Take a look at Saudi Arabia. Open the documents. We ought to get Bush or somebody to have the documents opened because frankly, if you open the documents, I think you are going to see it was Saudi Arabia …”
“The former President correctly speculated in 2016 that Saudi Arabia knocked down the towers and now the FBI has released the documents to prove him right,” Brett Eagleson, an advocate for the 9/11 Justice group, told CNN, “yet he is choosing money over America. So much for America First. A sad day.”
Supported by Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to “sportswash” its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
When asked to address the issues raised by the 9/11 families, who will host a protest and press conference on Friday, Trump avoided the nature of the question entirely.
“Well, nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately, and they should have, as to the maniacs that did that horrible thing to our city, to our country, to the world, so nobody’s really been there,” Trump said. “But I can tell you there are a lot of really great people that are out here today and we’re going to have a lot of fun and we’re going to celebrate.”
There are 12 Trump Golf-owned properties in the U.S., two in Scotland, one in Ireland and one in the United Arab Emirates.
Before Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, he was well known in the golf community as the namesake of the courses and grounds that share his name.
There are 12 Trump Golf-owned properties in the United States, two in Scotland, one in Ireland and one in the United Arab Emirates. The Trump Organization manages Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in New York, though for a short period of time it lost control until winning a legal battle. It also has three golf properties opening soon: two in Indonesia and one in Dubai.
Seven of the current Trump Golf-owned/managed properties are open to the public for tee times and nine of the clubs are private.
Here’s a look at the 16 current Trump Golf properties around the world.
The Old Course at Trump National Golf Club will host the event.
The LIV Golf Bedminster will take place from July 29-31, with 48 golfers traveling to New Jersey for the controversial tour’s third event on the 2022 LIV Golf schedule.
The Old Course at Trump National Golf Club will host the event.
Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Louis Oosthuizen are among the golfers who will participate in the three-day tournament.
The format will remain the same with 54 holes played at the same time and there will be no cuts. LIV Golf will offer a $25 million purse for the 54-hole tournament, with the winner earning $4 million. Each member of the winning team will win an additional $750,000. The last placed golfer will collect $120,000.
Broadcaster David Feherty will be calling the tournament with the LIV tour’s lead analyst Arlo White.
Feherty will be making his debut this weekend. White was an announcer for NBC’s Premier League from 2013-14 before joining LIV in June.
The pair will also be joined by analysts Jerry Foltz, Dom Boulet, Su-Ann Heng and Troy Mullins.
The series, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
Here is how to watch the LIV Tournament:
Where: Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, New Jersey .
When: July 29-31
TV: The event will not be televised.
Streaming: The LIV Tournament will be shown on LIVGolf.com, while YouTube and Facebook will have broadcast live streaming coverage of the event.
“Offensive, disrespectful,” Strada said of the LIV event, which is paid for in part by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
BEDMINSTER, New Jersey — After nearly 21 years and what seems to be an endless river of pain, this is what the 9/11 story has come to.
Three relatives of victims of America’s deadliest terror attack — a wife who lost her husband; a mother who lost her son; a son who lost his father — stood Tuesday on a patch of grass by the local public library in this community of rolling hills and horse pastures. Two miles away sat a golf course owned by former President Donald Trump.
It was 9:20 a.m. The humidity and 90-degree temperatures of recent days had softened. But tempers still steamed over Trump’s decision to host a golf tournament financed by Saudi Arabia despite new declassified FBI files with evidence that at least a dozen Saudi officials provided financial and logistical support to the team of Islamists who pulled off the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
The LIV Golf tournament, at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, begins Thursday with a one-day pro-am competition, followed on Friday by a three-day, 54-hole tournament featuring such stars as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
The LIV Golf series, which features several tournaments in the coming months, culminating at Trump’s Doral course in Miami, describes itself as “golf as you’ve never seen it.” That may be one of the most prophetic understatements of sports — in this case, with the additional controversy of 9/11 and Saudi Arabia’s alleged links to Islamist terrorism lurking in the shadows.
None of the golfers signed up to play have commented in depth about accusations that they are wrongfully taking money from a regime that also supported the 9/11 attacks, in which 19 operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network — 15 of whom were Saudi citizens — hijacked four commercial jetliners on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The hijackers crashed two jets into the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon and a fourth into a farm field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, on the lawn outside Bedminster’s Clarence Dillon Public Library, here was Terry Strada, who lost her husband, Tom, in the rubble of the trade center’s twin towers, which collapsed after the hijacked jets crashed into them. Only four days before Tom perished, Strada, who lived at the time in nearby Basking Ridge, gave birth to the couple’s youngest child.
“Offensive, disrespectful,” Strada said of the golf tournament, which is paid for in part with some $2 billion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
“A multibillion-dollar public relations stunt,” she added — all aimed to “sports-wash” the Saudi connection from 9/11.
‘Golf, but louder’
Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Two miles down Lamington Road, past the Rocking Horse Farm and a sign that advertised sheep and lambs for sale, you heard another story at Trump’s golf course. It was the story of a business transaction, with scores of workers making final arrangements for the LIV Golf tournament.
Some workers drove golf carts. Others checked on the LIV marketing signs that proclaimed “Golf, but louder” and “Don’t blink.” The front steps of the mansion, where Trump posed between American flags with prospective Cabinet members in the weeks after he won the presidential election in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton, were now adorned with signs offering instructions for caddies.
Trump was not there. On Tuesday, he flew to Washington, D.C. — his first trip to the nation’s capital since leaving office 18 months ago — for a speech at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank formed by a group of his former aides to promote his policies.
In his speech, Trump, who has hinted that he plans to run for the White House again in 2024, did not talk about Saudi Arabia’s link to 9/11. But in an interview beforehand with the Wall Street Journal, Trump praised what he believes is positive publicity for Saudi Arabia for funding the LIV Golf series.
“I do think that the publicity that they’ve gotten, more than anything, has been a great thing for them,” Trump told the Journal. “I think the publicity they’ve gotten is worth billions of dollars. It’s one of the hottest things to have happened in sports, and sports is a big part of life.”
Of the 9/11 victims and their relatives, Trump said: “I don’t know much about the 9/11 families, I don’t know what is the relationship to this, and their very strong feelings, and I can understand their feelings. I can’t really comment on that because I don’t know exactly what they’re saying, and what they’re saying who did what.”
A week ago, amid growing criticism of the Saudi link to the LIV tournament, Trump posted a message for pro-golfers: “Take the money” from LIV. Trump did not address the Saudi connection to 9/11.
But on Monday, in response to a letter mailed to Trump at his Bedminster golf course by 9/11 victims’ relatives, a woman identifying herself as an aide to the former president called Brett Eagleson, who lost his father, Bruce, in the rubble of the trade center and has emerged as an ardent critic of Trump and Saudi Arabia.
“I was riding my lawn mower,” said Eagleson, who lives in Middletown, Connecticut. “The call came from a blocked number. I thought it was spam. I took it anyway.”
Eagleson told NorthJersey.com in an interview that he did not “catch the woman’s name.” He said she told him that Trump wanted him to know that 9/11 victims were “very near and dear to him.”
If that’s so, Eagleson said, he wonders why Trump would play host to the LIV Golf tournament, knowing that it is sponsored by the official Saudi investment fund.
Eagleson said the Trump aide told him the “LIV contract was binding.”
“Trump is known for breaking contracts,” Eagleson said. “The call was essentially a b.s. call that left me more frustrated than ever. Clearly we are not getting through to the president.”
Celebrities claim ‘fake outrage’
Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley talk on the eighth green during Capital One’s The Match: Champions For Change at Stone Canyon Golf Club on November 27, 2020, in Oro Valley, Arizona. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for The Match
Trump is not the only source of frustration for 9/11 families, though.
Former basketball star Charles Barkley, who is openly marketing himself as a possible TV analyst for upcoming LIV Golf tournaments, told a Philadelphia sports talk radio interviewer on Saturday that the relatives of 9/11 victims and other critics of the Saudi support for LIV Golf were expressing “fake outrage.”
“All this noise I hear about sports-washing and blood money — I think these people are so disingenuous with their fake outrage,” Barkley told radio host Howard Eskin. “Everybody in sports has taken blood money.”
Eagleson quickly fired off a response to Barkley.
“Your comments on Saudi Arabia 9/11 LIV outrage are ignorant,” he said, sharing his sentiments with NorthJersey.com. “Perhaps you think our outrage is fake because you haven’t seen the dead bodies. Unfortunately, I haven’t either as my dad was burned alive when the towers fell on him. We never recovered his remains. Never got to say goodbye.”
Barkley did not respond. He is scheduled on Thursday to headline the LIV-sponsored pro-am tournament.
What took place Tuesday morning in Bedminster — and in the previous weeks — illustrates the continuing disconnect between those who want to pull back the layers of secrecy that have long clouded the 9/11 story and those who want to move on — or conveniently forget.
What troubles many 9/11 victims and their relatives is the thousands of pages of newly released evidence linking Saudi Arabia to the 9/11 attacks. This includes reports that Saudi officials — including at least one connected to the Saudi intelligence service — helped several of the 11 Islamists who carried out the attacks and hid in North Jersey before that fateful day, renting apartments, opening bank accounts and even joining local gyms.
To highlight some of this evidence and criticize the golf tournament at Trump’s course, a group of relatives of 9/11 victims, including Dennis McGinley of Haworth, who lost his brother, Dan, of Ridgewood, filmed a TV commercial in which they referred to the Saudis as offering “blood money.”
“This golf tournament is taking place 50 miles from Ground Zero,” McGinley said in the 30-second spot, which is scheduled to be broadcast on the Fox network and cable channels catering to golf fans. Ground Zero was the nickname given by rescue workers to the seven-story pile of rubble left behind after the collapse of the trade center’s twin towers.
Standing on the lawn outside the Dillon Library in Bedminster on Tuesday, Alison Crowther wondered when the full truth about the attacks that killed her son, Welles, will be known.
Crowther drove nearly 70 miles from her home in Upper Nyack, New York. She pleaded with a gaggle of TV crews and other journalists to plumb the newly released FBI files that offer a compelling litany of evidence that links at least a dozen Saudi officials — including a former ambassador to the U.S. — to the 9/11 attacks.
Crowther even brought a red bandana to remind onlookers that her son, Welles, became known as the “man in the red bandana” after he was spotted leading office workers to safety on Sept. 11, 2001.
After helping one group of workers out of the burning South Tower, Welles went back inside to search for others. But the tower collapsed.
She pulled the bandana from her purse and stared at it silently for a few seconds.
“Sometimes I think our government is more interested in protecting everyone else and has forgotten us,” she said.
A few steps away, Matthew Bocchi of New Vernon sat silently in a chair as he waited to speak. He was just 9 years old when his father, John, died at the trade center’s North Tower.
Bocchi pulled out his wallet and showed a photo of his father — then just 38, and, like his son now, sporting a bushy head of jet-black hair.
“People say I look like him,” Bocchi said.
The memories, he said, keep him strong. And while the LIV Golf tournament is certainly distressing — and Trump’s lack of response disheartening — Bocchi said he plans to keep pressing for the full truth on the 9/11 attacks.
Moments later, he rose to speak to the crowd. He told of what it was like to watch the video footage of the burning towers on that fateful September Tuesday in 2001. He spoke of what it was like to grow up without a father. He accused the golfers who play in the LIV tournament of taking “blood money.”
Then he paused and looked at the crowd. An even larger group of relatives of 9/11 victims plans to meet on the lawn at the library on Friday when the tournament begins.
“We, as 9/11 families, are not going away,” Bocchi said.
Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer.
Casey had some strong opinions on his former professional tours ahead of his LIV Golf debut.
Paul Casey knew what would happen when he made his decision to join LIV Golf. The three-time PGA Tour and 15-time DP World Tour winner admitted so multiple times while speaking to media ahead of his debut at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster this week.
“There’s a lot more to my decision of sitting here than just a financial opportunity and less golf. But I was very aware of the ramifications of making this choice,” said Casey on Wednesday, noting how he’s won on five different tours. “The PGA Tour is something, it was a goal of mine to play on the PGA Tour, and it’s been an incredible journey.”
After fellow LIV rookie Henrik Stenson lost his captaincy for next year’s matches in Italy for joining the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded series, the five-time member of Team Europe admitted he was concerned about his own Ryder Cup future.
“As I said before, I was aware of the ramifications of my decision. You know, and I guess it’s not — the rules and decisions that are going to be put in place are out of my hands. I would still love to be a part of that, but if I’m not, then I guess there’s nothing I can do,” explained Casey.
“I’m actually not sure what to tell you because (the Ryder Cup is) such an amazing thing. Some of the moments I’ve had, some of the teams I’ve been a part of, even the bad moments, they’re just amazing,” he continued. “To know that there’s a possibility that a lot of us are going to miss out on that, I’m not sure what to tell you yet because I guess we don’t know. Right now we’re all in limbo, which is a bit frustrating. Yeah, I don’t know.”
If Casey was as conscious as he claims, then he knew this outcome was inevitable. He didn’t have to join LIV right away. If the Ryder Cup was truly that important, he could have waited. But he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too.
The 45-year-old Englishman, a former UNICEF ambassador who was initially apprehensive about playing golf in the Kingdom a couple years ago, defended the progress Saudi Arabia is making on the human rights front.
“I’ve been to the Kingdom a couple of times, and I’ve seen change happening in the Kingdom, so I can confidently say that change is happening and that what we do is having a positive effect,” Casey explained.
LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
When asked if he would feel responsible or regret if the fragmentation of players joining LIV severely damaged or ended either the PGA or DP World tours, Casey supported his fellow players and took a few shots at DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley, as well as CCO and Ryder Cup director Guy Kinnings.
“The players are making their decisions, obviously. But the players are not trying to damage the game. We leave this to those in charge of the Tour,” said Casey. “In this case, this is left with Mr. Pelley, Mr. Kinnings. I could actually ask them some questions. We could ask Mr. Kinnings why the relationship deteriorated between the (DP World Tour) and Saudi Golf. We’ve got a lot of questions, but right now they all seem to be coming our way, not his way.”
“I’m a guy who’s sat on the European Player Committee for many years, I’ve sat on the Player Advisory Council for many years. In fact, I retired and then they asked me to come back because of my input,” said Casey. “I know the fabric of this game pretty well on the inside, on the Tour level. At no time have I ever tried to damage the Tour in the decision that I’ve made. If it’s damaged, I think the questions have to be asked somewhere else.”
The new series made a major announcement ahead of its third event this week at Trump Bedminster.
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — The LIV Golf Invitational Series is getting a face lift for 2023.
As previously reported, the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced on Wednesday that it will transition to the LIV Golf League in 2023 and will feature 48 players on 12 team franchises with a 14-event schedule. While dates and locations are yet to be announced, LIV said it plans to “expand LIV Golf’s global footprint across North and Latin Americas, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe.”
In addition, LIV Golf will also expect players to compete in “numerous” International Series events on the Asian Tour, where LIV and the PIF have committed $300 million. That gives LIV players 25 playing opportunities for 2023, similar to what they’d play on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour.
Players will compete for $405 million in total prize purses and team captains will be able to make franchise decisions based on fan and sponsor interest. There are plans for promotion and relegation with the International Series.
LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
In its first year, LIV Golf has already hosted two of its eight scheduled events for 2022, with the third set to shotgun start on Friday at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. Five of the eight events are in the United States (Portland, Bedminster, Boston, Chicago and Miami) with the other three in London, Bangkok and Jeddah.
The PGA of America moved its 2022 championship away from Trump National after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
With former President Donald Trump spending his summers in the township, Bedminster is accustomed to having celebrities within its borders.
This weekend, the township will host 48 professional golfers as they compete in the new LIV Golf’s third event at Trump National Golf Club on Lamington Road.
For Trump, hosting the controversial breakaway tour’s event at his club could be sweet revenge. The PGA of America moved its 2022 championship, one of golf’s four major championships, away from Trump National after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Trump and the PGA later reached an out-of-court settlement over the move.
Last week, on his Truth Social site, Trump encouraged current players on the PGA Tour to jump to LIV, where there is guaranteed money, no cuts and shorter tournaments.
“All of those golfers that remain ‘loyal’ to the very disloyal PGA, in all of its different forms, will pay a big price when the inevitable MERGER with LIV comes, and you get nothing but a big ‘thank you’ from PGA officials who are making Millions of Dollars a year,” Trump wrote. “If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were.”
Trump will host another LIV event Oct. 27-30 at Trump National Doral in Miami.
The PGA Championship was expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators each day of the four-round tournament. But there have been no concrete estimates of how many spectators will attend the LIV Golf Invitational Bedminster to be held from Friday to Sunday.
However, because LIV is backed by Saudi Arabian money and Trump is involved, some of those who might be showing up at the tournament won’t be there to watch golf.
Members of 9/11 Justice, a group whose loved ones were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and believe Saudi Arabia should be held accountable, have urged Trump to cancel the event. The group demonstrated outside LIV’s previous event outside Portland.
Previous demonstrators. both supporters and opponents of Trump, were allowed to gather at a “free speech” zone at the township’s Clarence P. Dillon Library at the corner of Route 206 and Lamington Road.
For those who want to watch golf, tickets are $75 per day. Gates will open at 10 a.m. before the 1 p.m. start on each of the tournament’s three days. Discounts of 25% are available for youths, students, teachers, medical personnel and first responders. Military personnel and one guest will be admitted for free. Unlike tournaments on the PGA Tour, LIV will have a shotgun start with the 48 golfers starting on threesomes on each of the course’s 18 holes.
But it’s not going to be the normal shotgun start. Members of the Frog-X Parachute Team will skydive onto the course to kick off the action.
Besides the golf, the tournament will offer a Fan Village with what LIV is calling “a food festival-style atmosphere.” There will also be a LIV Kids Zone for children which will include crafts soft play equipment, glow-in-the-dark mini-golf putting course and educational activities.
Also within the Fan Village will be LIV Golf’s Performance Center, featuring the latest golf technology and golf simulator bays. Fans can also test putting skills on the Zen Green Stage, touted as golf’s most advanced indoor playing surface, recreating any makeable putt in the world.
There will also be the Metaverse, where fans can experience virtual reality golf exhibits. LIV Golf’s Eco Village will offer a chance to relax in an eco-friendly setting where fans can refill water bottles at a hydro station, charge cellphones by pedaling a bike, watch a 3D printer create golf tees from recycled plastic and attempt to chip golf balls into a canoe to raise money for local charities.
There will be two free parking locations – Red Tail Farm, 1100 Rattlesnake Bridge Road, just north of the Interstate 78 intersection and 655 Lamington Road. From the Lamington parking lot shuttle buses will take spectators to the main tournament gate at Red Tail Farm.
The field will include 10 major champions with a combined 20 majors tournament victories, four former world No. 1 players and half of the competitors currently ranked in the top 100. Players will compete for a $25 million purse.
Featured players will be Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer and Patrick Reed.
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
The LIV broadcast, which is currently only available via live stream, recently added David Feherty to its talent sheet.
“When I leave New Jersey Thursday night, when I leave the golf course, if I don’t have an offer in hand, it’s over.”
That was Charles Barkley’s message to Greg Norman and the LIV Golf Invitational Series during a Monday appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.
The 11-time NBA All-Star and current TNT analyst has been flirting with the Norman-led series over the last few weeks, which will hold its third event this week at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. Last week Barkley told the New York Post that he’s playing in a pro-am for the Bedminster event after he had met with Norman for dinner in Atlanta to discuss what his role would be with LIV.
"When I leave New Jersey Thursday night, when I leave the golf course (#LIV Pro-AM), if I don't have an offer in hand, it's over."
“I’m not gonna keep TNT in limbo. To be honest with you, I don’t think it’s fair to them,” Barkley explained. “(LIV has) gotten plenty of play out of me coming to play up there Thursday. So I’m not just gonna be no show pony.”
The LIV broadcast, which is currently only available via live stream, recently added David Feherty to its talent sheet alongside former voice of the Premier League on NBC Arlo White – who is in his first foray as a golf announcer – as well as former Golf Channel analyst Jerry Foltz and Dom Boulet.
The series, funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
Barkley said it has been “very stressful” since news broke of his interest in LIV and even called out players for being afraid to admit the decision to join the series is for the guaranteed money.
More PGA Tour winners are taking their talents to LIV Golf.
Tuesday the series announced 45 of the 48 players who will tee it up at its upcoming event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 29-31, but three spots were left to be filled “in the coming days.” A day later the Greg Norman-led, Saudi Arabia-funded circuit announced Jason Kokrak and Charles Howell III would be making their debuts alongside Henrik Stenson, who broke the news himself earlier in the day after he was relieved of his captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team.
Kokrak, 37, is a three-time winner on Tour, all in the last two years. Howell, 43, also has three wins, most recently in 2018 and previously in 2007 and 2002. Stenson, meanwhile, boasts six PGA Tour and 11 DP World Tour wins over his career.
Get ready for three more players to join the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Greg Norman-led, Saudi Arabia-funded upstart circuit announced the field for its upcoming third event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 29-31, but three spots were left to be filled “in the coming days.” Teams have yet to be finalized, as well.
Paul Casey, a former UNICEF ambassador who once spoke out against competing in Saudi Arabia, will make his debut in the 54-hole, no cut team and player competition that boasts $25 million in prize money due to its backing from the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom. Speculation has run rampant on who will be the next to make the move to LIV after British Open champion Cameron Smith’s non-denial when asked if he was joining the upstart series.
“I just won the British Open, and you’re asking about that,” said Smith. “I think that’s pretty not that good. I don’t know, mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff. I’m here to win golf tournaments.”
Others who have been linked to LIV include fellow Aussies Adam Scott and Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, Bubba Watson and European Ryder Cup captain Henrik Stenson.
Meet the confirmed field competing at LIV Golf Bedminster:
