After reading Rebekah Sager’s “Trump’s Saudi-backed golf event is ‘offensive, disrespectful, and hurtful’ to 9/11 victims’ families” here a couple of days ago, I checked in to see how well the event’s first day went at Bedminster, NJ.
The short version: it flopped.
In “At a LIV Golf Event, Thin Crowds and a Tense Start”, the New York Time’s Bill Pennington writes:
… thunderous cheering, the typical soundtrack of most professional golf tournaments, was nonexistent. The crowds at the event, LIV Golf’s third tournament, were too sparse to hear any ovations wafting around the course…. LIV Golf officials did not announce an attendance figure.
In “Golf takes back seat at Saudi-backed, Trump-hosted event”, the Guardian’s Bryan Armen Graham reports:
Phil Mickelson was interrupted by a heckler as he stood over his first shot on the 16th tee.
“Do it for the Saudi royal family!”
Talk about awkward. The six-time major champion stepped away from his ball, composed himself as the gallery stirred before depositing his tee shot into a greenside bunker. And it only got stranger from there....
The relatively few attendees, if they had a mind to, could have visited the late Ivana Trump’s grave below the backside of the first tee. With so little crowd noise they could have paid their respects in peace.
Trump’s M.O. for this sort of thing is to hire actors to fill out his sparse audience, so if you’re near Bedminster, New Jersey and need a few bucks, you might look for a casting call today or tomorrow. With the Saudis backing him Trump should have enough money to throw $50 your way.