Donald Trump strolls the 18th green of his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course during its 2022 LIV Golf event.
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The partnership between Donald Trump and LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed PGA Tour challenger, has faced plenty of scrutiny—from human-rights groups, families of 9/11 victims and Democratic politicians. But one key question has remained a mystery: Just how much money has the former president earned from hosting LIV tournaments at his courses?
Forbes believes it has found an answer, at least for the first of the six LIV events Trump has hosted. Buried in one of the thousands of court filings that has come out in Trump litigation over the last year is a 2022 income statement for the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, showing a one-time revenue stream labeled “LIV golf event.” The number next to it: $796,744.
That’s a tiny amount of money for the Trump Organization, undercutting speculation that LIV has provided Trump with a significant new source of revenue in recent years. The $796,744 amounted to just 3.5% of Bedminster’s revenue in 2022 and less than one-half of 1% of the revenue for Trump’s larger golf portfolio. It remains unclear exactly how much LIV paid Trump for the other five tournaments at his properties. The former president may have generated some additional revenue selling hotel rooms at Trump National Doral, the Miami golf resort where he has welcomed LIV Golf three times.
Representatives of Trump’s business and campaign did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for LIV declined to get into the numbers, but touted Trump’s New Jersey property. “We do not comment on individual commercial arrangements with host venues,” he said. “Bedminster is a championship course that provides a first-class playing experience for players, event experience for fans, and is located in a strong commercial market that closely aligns with the LIV Golf brand and fanbase.”
For Trump, the tournaments provided publicity. The fame-focused former president has long obsessed over bringing professional golf tournaments to his courses. Doral, which he purchased in 2012, had been home to one PGA Tour event for decades, but that competition left after Trump announced his 2016 presidential campaign, decamping to Mexico, of all places. Bedminster hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 2017, Trump’s first year in office, and it was slated to host the 2022 men’s PGA Championship, but the PGA pulled out in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The organization that runs the British Open also made it clear that it would not be holding its famed tournament at Trump Turnberry any time soon.
For LIV, however, controversy was always part of the package. Rich with Saudi money, it attracted stars like Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau from the PGA Tour with massive signing bonuses, dividing the golf world, and enabling a blackballed Trump to keep drawing stars to his courses–even if he did not get much of the money.