President Donald Trump’s love of golf has been a major storyline since he was first elected in 2016.
But 2025, perhaps more than any other in Trump’s life, marked his strongest involvement yet in the professional game—and in other aspects of the sport.
From adding more major tournaments at Trump-owned courses to hosting players at the White House, to trying to facilitate a PGA Tour–LIV Golf merger (no success yet there) and even getting involved in the complicated Washington public golf scene, Trump’s presence in golf keeps getting more visible.
Match Maker
In February, Trump hosted two meetings at the White House aimed at mending the fractured state of men’s professional golf.
The first included PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott, and Saudi Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan by phone.
“We asked the President to get involved for the good of the game, the good of the country, and for all the countries involved,” a statement from the PGA Tour read. “We are grateful that his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal, paving the way for reunification of men’s professional golf.”
Two weeks later, Trump brought Monahan and Scott back to D.C., along with Tiger Woods, to meet with Al-Rumayyan in person.
The PIF had been considering acquiring a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises—the for-profit entity founded in 2024 that has already received a $1.5 billion investment from a consortium of U.S. sports team owners, the Strategic Sports Group, that could double to $3 billion eventually.
In March, Monahan said Trump’s involvement “bolstered” the PGA Tour’s talks with LIV. But ultimately no PIF deal got done, and the year ended with the rival tours far from any sort of alliance—sounding even farther away than when the sides first announced their intention to join forces to “unify the game of golf on a global basis” in June 2023. Trump had famously said back just before the 2024 U.S. presidential election that he could broker a deal between PGA Tour and LIV in “15 minutes.” The golf world would still like to see him prove it.
Monahan is exiting the PGA Tour in 2026, as new CEO Brian Rolapp, from the NFL, has taken on the commissioner duties.
Come One, Come All
This past year also brought further discussion about the Trump Turnberry golf club in Scotland hosting another Open Championship, which it has not done since 2009—five years before Trump purchased it in 2014 for $60 million.
In July, R&A CEO Mark Darbon, whose organization operates the tournament, wouldn’t rule out Turnberry getting another British Open, but also didn’t promise anything. “We’ve explicitly not taken it out of our pool of venues,” he said, “but we’d need to address … logistical challenges should we return.”
Trump did add several notable professional events at some of his other courses.
The DP World Tour hosted the Scottish Championship in August at Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, and then announced that next year’s Irish Open will be played at Trump International Golf Links Ireland in Doonbeg for the first time.
In August, the PGA Tour announced it would return to Trump National Doral next season after a 10-year absence. This month, it was revealed that the South Florida tournament—one of eight signature events on the 2026 PGA Tour schedule with $20 million purses—would be called the Cadillac Championship, as the General Motors–owned luxury car brand that sponsored the old PGA Tour event at Doral was returning to put its name on the new one, too.
Doral has hosted LIV Golf events for the past four years, but won’t do so next year as it welcomes back the PGA Tour. LIV will play at a Trump-owned course for the fifth consecutive year in 2026, though, with Trump National Golf Club Washington D.C. hosting the league’s Virginia event in May.
On Dec. 17, Trump National Golf Club Jupiter hosted the inaugural edition of the Golf Channel Games, a made-for-TV event featuring Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and other players.
Still, it’s widely known Trump would love to host a men’s golf major at one of his courses, and that hasn’t happened yet before he was elected president or since. The 2022 PGA Championship was originally scheduled to be played at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, but was moved after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
Capital Commissions
Trump very clearly has the support and friendship of many of the biggest faces in the sport.
Woods, whom Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, visited the White House again in May.
In July, Trump named Bryson DeChambeau chair of the revived President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. DeChambeau hit golf balls on the White House’s South Lawn in June, was among the celebrities to attend the dinner in November when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the White House, and spoke at a White House Christmas event earlier this month. He even stood alongside Trump onstage at the election night celebration in 2024.
Beyond welcoming golf stars to D.C. this year, Trump inserted himself into a notable public golf project, taking control of three courses after ending the 50-year operational lease the National Links Trust was only five years into.
Tensions in DC
More recently, Trump has turned his attention toward three public courses in D.C. owned by the National Parks Services—reverting those operations to his administration’s control. That put him at odds with the National Links Trust, which is a nonprofit that was originally entrusted with renovating those courses, a project that is now cancelled.
Last month, a White House adviser told Front Office Sports that Woods had agreed to help with the renovation of one of those courses, Langston Golf Course. However, with the recent changes the status of that is unclear.
In 2026, look for Trump to tout the PGA Tour’s return to Doral, and continue his efforts to land an Open Championship at Turnberry.
His involvement in the PGA Tour–LIV Golf feud has quieted down, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make another attempt at achieving peace there, which would earn him plaudits in the global golf world.
