Former President Donald Trump is nothing if not prescient on some of the biggest cultural and business issues of the day.
The latest example of his Nostradamus-like ability to see into the future can be found in his 2022 prediction that the upstart league LIV Golf would merge with its rival the PGA. That pronouncement came to fruition on Tuesday.
“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,” he shared on his social media app Truth Social in July 2022.
https://twitter.com/TimMeadsUSA/status/1666093487899680768?s=20
Trump was right. The PGA Tour and LIV Golf, along with DP World Tour, will now combine into one for-profit company.
As reported by The Daily Wire, the PGA Tour’s decades of dominance were first challenged in June 2021 after retired golfer Greg Norman hosted LIV’s first tournament with funding from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, or the PIF. The PGA tour initially dismissed LIV out of hand, not allowing any golfer who participated in LIV to continue in the PGA tour. But, after LIV picked off some of the biggest stars in golf to join their league, a flurry of lawsuits from both sides began.
Players who joined the league were accused of taking blood money due to Saudi Arabia’s alleged violation of human rights. LIV was accused of ruining the game, due to its raucous fan-experience atmosphere.
Now, with the merger, all lawsuits have been dropped, and the only remaining threat is a DOJ antitrust investigation into the PGA, which will be complicated by the merger. The PGA Tour commissioner said the deal will push golf into the future and give fans the best experience.
In response to the news, CBS Sports reporter Kyle Porter tweeted, “Truly gobsmacked today. Of the 10,000 different outcomes, this was never talked about, never discussed, never even floated. Everyone who would have known was at the PGA two weeks ago, and nobody even came close to hinting at it!”
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Truly gobsmacked today.
Of the 10,000 different outcomes, this was never talked about, never discussed, never even floated. Everyone who would have known was at the PGA two weeks ago, and nobody even came close to hinting at it!
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 6, 2023
In recent months, many people have discussed the possibility of the two leagues combining forces. But when Trump first said it last summer, he was mocked for standing alone.
“To be clear, only Trump is talking about possibly merging the organizations,” author Michael D’Antonio wrote in July 2022. “Instead, according to CNBC, the PGA is hiring lobbyists to fight the LIV because of what its commissioner calls “an irrational threat, one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game.”
That column was titled, “Opinion: Trump’s Ego And Greed Help Divide A Sport.” Several of Trump’s golf courses have held LIV Tournaments during the league’s first two seasons.
Now, the 45th president and 2024 GOP presidential candidate has been proven right even after the media ridiculed him and industry “experts” said he was nuts.
Doesn’t that all sound familiar?
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.