With former President Donald Trump spending his summers in the township, Bedminster is accustomed to having celebrities within its borders.
This weekend, the township will host 48 professional golfers as they compete in the new LIV Golf’s third event at Trump National Golf Club on Lamington Road.
For Trump, hosting the controversial breakaway tour’s event at his club could be sweet revenge. The PGA of America moved its 2022 championship, one of golf’s four major championships, away from Trump National after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Trump and the PGA later reached an out-of-court settlement over the move.
Last week, on his Truth Social site, Trump encouraged current players on the PGA Tour to jump to LIV, where there is guaranteed money, no cuts and shorter tournaments.
“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. “If you don’t take the money now, you will get nothing after the merger takes place, and only say how smart the original signees were.”
Trump will host another LIV event Oct. 27-30 at Trump National Doral in Miami.
The PGA Championship was expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators each day of the four-round tournament. But there have been no concrete estimates of how many spectators will attend the LIV Golf Invitational Bedminster to be held from Friday to Sunday.
However, because LIV is backed by Saudi Arabian money and Trump is involved, some of those who might be showing up at the tournament won’t be there to watch golf.
Members of 9/11 Justice, a group whose loved ones were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and believe Saudi Arabia should be held accountable, have urged Trump to cancel the event. The group demonstrated outside LIV’s previous event outside Portland.
Previous demonstrators. both supporters and opponents of Trump, were allowed to gather at a “free speech” zone at the township’s Clarence P. Dillon Library at the corner of Route 206 and Lamington Road.
For those who want to watch golf, tickets are $75 per day. Gates will open at 10 a.m. before the 1 p.m. start on each of the tournament’s three days. Discounts of 25% are available for youths, students, teachers, medical personnel and first responders. Military personnel and one guest…
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