LIV Golf moves championship from Saudi Arabia to Trump Doral

The Saudi-backed LIV Golf announced Monday that it will move its season championship series from Saudi Arabia to Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami. 

In a news release on Monday, league officials said the three-day team tournament will take place from Oct. 20 to Oct. 22 at the Trump National Doral, which is owned by former President Trump. 

The championship was originally scheduled to happen on Nov. 3 to Nov. 5 from the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah. 

According to ESPN, the winning team of the championship tournament will earn a grand prize of $50 million. 

LIV also said that its other tournament, LIV Golf Jeddah, will take place at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on Oct. 13 to Oct. 15.

“We’re thrilled to return to the Blue Monster at Doral to celebrate a historic year and crown the 2023 LIV Golf League team champion,” LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman said in a statement. “The team concept has come to life this year in exciting new ways as our players and fans embrace the launch of team golf. We’re building up for an action-packed weekend with headline entertainment that will put an exclamation point on another can’t-miss LIV Golf event.”

The announcement comes a day before officials with the PGA Tour are scheduled to testify before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is probing its proposed merger with LIV. 

The PGA Tour announced last month that it has agreed to merge with LIV Golf to create one larger organization. The agreement will combine both golfing tours’ commercial businesses into one yet-to-be-named for-profit entity. The DP World Tour, also known as the European PGA Tour, will also be part of the merger. 

Randall Stephenson, a member of the PGA Tour’s policy board, has resigned from his position due to his concerns over the tour’s deal, pointing to the Saudi government’s shoddy record on human rights and specifically its involvement in the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

LIV, founded in 2021, is backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), an entity led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.