US President-elect Donald Trump over the weekend met with key players in the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) deal, as the divide in men’s professional golf is still a hot topic.
Last year June, a merger between the Saudi-funded LIV Golf and the PGA Tour was announced, but there have been no concrete developments since then.
Trump met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan just a day apart.
According to the Washington Post, Trump played a round of golf with Monahan at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.
VIPs assemble
On Saturday, Trump was seen in attendance at the UFC event at New York's Madison Square Garden sitting next to Al-Rumayyan. He was also seen with Elon Musk and musician Kid Rock at the event.
Jon Jones defended his UFC heavyweight title with a third-round technical knockout of Stipe Miocic. After the fight, Jones began performing the signature YMCA dance of Trump as he pointed to the incoming US President who was cheering on from his front row seat at the octagon.
UFC chief Dana White was a big supporter of Trump during his election campaign, and Jones made sure to thank the Republican after his fight.
A PGA Tour spokesperson told the Washington Post: "President-Elect Trump has always been a champion of the game of golf and commissioner Monahan was honoured to accept his invitation to play at Trump International," the spokesman told the paper in a statement.
"The President-Elect and the Commissioner share a love for the game and the Commissioner enjoyed their time together," he added.
Earlier this month, Trump insisted he solve the LIV Golf and PGA Tour deal when he said on a podcast: "I would say it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done.”
"I'm really going to work on other things, to be honest with you. I think we have much bigger problems than that. But I do think we should have one tour and they should have the best players in that tour."