Former President Trump teed off at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. Thursday morning for the LIV Golf pro-am event ahead of the Saudi-backed league’s third tournament of the season this weekend.
Trump took a few practice swings before being met with a round of applause as he teed off on the first hole of the event where he will play alongside his son Eric Trump, 24-time PGA Tour winner Dustin Johnson and 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Other names featured on the official pro-am list include Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner and Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
Trump and former first lady Melania Trump attended the LIV Golf welcome party at Gotham Hall in Manhattan Wednesday night where the former president was spotted talking to LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman.
Despite the tour’s ties to Saudi Arabia, Trump has hailed the new league as "one of the hottest things to have happened in sports."
"I do think that the publicity that they’ve gotten, more than anything, has been a great thing for them," Trump said Monday during an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I think the publicity they’ve gotten is worth billions of dollars. It’s one of the hottest things to have happened in sports, and sports is a big part of life."
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Earlier this month, Trump warned PGA Tour loyalists over a potential missed opportunity.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
LIV Golf offers a $25 million purse with a $4 million winner’s share and a $5 million prize for the winning team at each event. Players like Johnson and DeChambeau have also been given lucrative signing bonuses.
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On Wednesday, LIV Golf announced its 2023 schedule which includes 14 tournaments and a total purse of $405 million.
Fox News’ Joe Morgan contributed to this report.