The on-going negotiations betweent the PGA Tour and LIV Golf may finally be coming to a conclusion – and it would seem self-proclaimed “King of Deal” President Trump’s LIV Golf deal has just saved the world of golf!

Image via @tourgolf

In a statement from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player directors Adam Scott and Tiger Woods they said:

“We know golf fans are eagerly anticipating a resolution to negotiations with the [Saudi] Public Investment Fund and want to thank President Trump for his interest and long-time support of the game of golf.

“We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved.

We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men’s professional golf.”

Monahan was speaking after a trip to the White House, to discuss President Trump’s LIV Golf deal proposal.

As we all know Donald Trump is a huge golf fan, and owner of multiple courses which host events for both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

It’s believed President Trump currently owns approximately 20 golf courses across the World including Trump National Dorel and Turnberry which recently announced peak tee times would be rising to a £1000 a round!

So his role as a power-broker on the surface seems a reasonable move.

In 2024 President Turmp declared a huge $267 million in “golf related” income which includes sales from the Trump store of golf merchandise like look-a-like headcovers, golf shorts, caps and bags.

He also has business ties with Saudi PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who he was spotted sitting alongside at a UFC bout shortly after winning November’s US election.

During the election campaign Trump said it would take him 15 minutes to end golf’s civil war.

So perhaps positioning himself within golf is what he meant when he declared earlier this week he wanted to be known as a “peacemaker” and “unifier” rather than the other “gulf” disputes he’s got stuck into in the past few weeks!

LIV Golf tore professional golf apart in 2022 and signed up several top players the PGA and DP World Tours, including Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia.

Before President Trump’s LIV Golf deal in June 2023 the PGA Tour and the European-based DP World Tour, shocked the golf world (and Rory McIlroy!) by announcing they had a ‘framework agreement’ for a merger with PIF but a deadline to complete that deal passed without a major breakthrough.

Although the details of the “signing-on” deals and winnings of LIV Golfers have been kept under wraps.

We recently got a indication of what the LIV Golf top earners made in 2024.

Unsurpisingly Jon Rahm was the top earner and claimed the season-long $18 million bonus, but LIV also released the year-to-date earnings of its players, including payouts from the 2024 season’s end.

Here’s how the top 10 looks:

1. Jon Rahm: $34.75 million
2. Joaquin Niemann: $24.38 million
3. Sergio Garcia: $17.09 million
4. Tyrrell Hatton: $11.63 million
5. Brooks Koepka: $11.57 million
6. Dean Burmester: $8.37 million
7. Cameron Smith: $8.08 million
8. Louis Oosthuizen: $8.06 million
9. Abraham Ancer: $7.44 million
10. Carlos Ortiz: $7.39 million

These figures represent not just tournament winnings, but also significant season-end bonuses, making LIV players among the highest-paid athletes in the world.

Over the last couple of seasons there have been signs of a slight thawing of the waters as more LIV players were seen on the fairways of some leading PGA or DP World events – the most successful recently being Tyrell Hatton who won the Hero Dubai Dessert Classic in January 2025.

This season LIV has gained further credibility and coverage by signing major TV deals with Fox Sports in the US and ITV in the UK.

Then on Wednesday it was announced this year’s US Open will become the first major to provide players on the LIV Golf tour with an exemption based on rankings.

The timing of this statement coincides with the season-opening LIV Golf event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

However, if this intervention by President Trump does lead to a final agreement between the major Tours and LIV then that can only be a good thing for the game of golf as a whole and golf fans everywhere.

We’ll all be watching with interest to see what happens next