LIV Golf in Bedminster: How it's gaining momentum with assistance from Donald Trump

BEDMINSTER – It feels like way more than one year since Henrik Stenson made his first appearance here in the fledgling LIV Golf and won his debut.

In that time, LIV Golf has risen from the suspicious new kid to the tough guy on the block, forcing the more established PGA Tour and European Tour to agree to a truce and meet at the bargaining table for a possible partnership.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind for everyone, right?” Stenson said during Wednesday’s interview session leading into Friday’s start of the LIV Golf Bedminster event at Trump National Golf Club.

Saudi-backed LIV Golf, financed by the Public Investment Fund, has transformed from a perceived wealthy side show into a main event by luring Stenson and several dozen fellow stars with an offer that would be difficult for most people to refuse: less work, more money.

“I really feel like the game has gotten better. I feel like the competition has gotten better. I think that everyone is taken care of better. That's a good thing,” Sergio Garcia said. “We always say that competition is good, not only in golf, but everywhere. I think that's what LIV brought to golf.”

The PGA Tour in June announced it would meet with representatives of LIV Golf and the European Tour with the hope of ironing out an agreement that allows them to work together peacefully. The agreement called for a cease in lawsuits and to “ensure that all stakeholders benefit from a model that delivers maximum excitement and competition among the game’s best players.”

"What's happening right now is finding middle ground so both can coexist, which is great," Bryson DeChambeau said. "What happens off it, I don't know. That's outside of my purview."

Hence, the mood is more relaxed this year at Trump National, despite the U.S. Senate holding hearings in July to look into this possible unification. Stenson, Garcia and DeChambeau laughed and joked during Wednesday's interviews, one year after golfers had a duck-and-cover attitude as reporters asked about the morality of earning a salary via a government known for human rights abuses.

Former President Donald Trump made an appearance Wednesday, including hitting balls on the practice range and shaking hands and chatting briefly with DeChambeau. Trump autographed several hats and told a bunch of golfers before a youth clinic, “Have a good time everybody.”

LIV Golf has lured those several dozen stars, including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed, with a shorter work day, week and season, while providing paychecks double those offered by the PGA and European tours:

LIV has a 14-event schedule; the PGA Tour has more than 30 tournaments.

LIV plays three days and 54 holes; the PGA Tour plays four days and 72 holes.

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LIV features a shotgun start, so players know their exact tee time every day; the PGA Tour features tee times and players can start anywhere from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

LIV does not make cuts; the PGA Tour cuts about half the field after the first two rounds.

LIV will pay Sunday's champion $4 million, and a team competition allows the winning foursome to split $3 million; the PGA Tour pays its winner less than $2 million.

Stenson, Garcia and DeChambeau didn’t seem to be in any hurry to reconnect with the PGA Tour. That likely would lead to more than the LIV’s current 14-event schedule, and these veterans are not enamored with the thought of playing 30 events.

“For me personally, if I got 14 LIV events, I got the Open Championship, I might play one or two other tournaments,” said Stenson, 47. “I’m not looking to add another 15 PGA Tour events, even if I could.”

“I wanted to come here to LIV, not only because I love the product, but because I wanted to play less,” said Garcia, 43. “The possibility of playing PGA Tour comes, I doubt that I would play because I don't want to play more.”

"I probably would not go back [to the PGA Tour], and even if I did, I'd probably just want to play two or three events," said DeChambeau, 29, who won Sunday's LIV Greenbrier in West Virginia after closing with a stunning 58. "And if I was to flip the coin and be on the other side of the ropes, I can't see how that flies with the membership on the other side, either."

What Stenson and Garcia will miss is competing at this year’s Ryder Cup, the biennial competition that pits players representing Europe vs. the United States. This year’s Ryder Cup opens Sept. 25 in Italy, and the Swede and Spaniard are on the outside looking in.

“I’m a golf fan as well, and I’ll follow the scores,” Stenson said. “I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve decided that I’ve got my lounge chair and the popcorn bucket and that I’m going to sit there every hour of it, but of course I’ll check in.”

“Yes, it is disappointing to see that I'm not going to be able to be part of the Ryder Cup this year and the DP [European] World Tour for the same matter,” Garcia said.

There’s hope that the LIV, PGA Tour and European Tour can reach an agreement that is satisfactory to most, if not all. There are no guarantees that it will happen, and the players know it.

“I’ll just wait and see what comes out of this and what the tours might try and come up with combined going forward,” Stenson said. “I haven’t really, to be honest, thought much about how it could look and what would be my ideal scenario. I’m playing here, and I’m happy with that. That’s what I’m focusing on.”

“I wasn’t expecting things to happen overnight, and obviously it’s not,” Garcia said. “But things are fine here. Things are fine here. We just keep moving along and doing our own thing, and at the end of the day, that’s what we love. We love playing golf and competing, and that’s what we’re doing.”

"Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't," DeChambeau said. "I know a lot of players don't want it tohappen. I know some players that know it needs to happen. From my perspective, I'm incredibly content having a team to rely on and play for and be a part of. I'm really enjoying that process. Like you said, this is plan A, and I'm not thinking about any other plans as of right now."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: LIV Golf in Bedminster 2023: Gaining power, assisted by Donald Trump