The several hundred spectators filling the stand behind the first tee broke out in chants of “Four more years!” that echoed throughout when the former US president appeared in a white polo shirt and a red Make America Great Again hat to watch the lead team of Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and Phachara Khongwatmai start their second laps after the horn sent the shotgun at a quarter past one. A few meters away, Greg Norman, the CEO and face of the controversial Saudi-funded breakaway tour, raised the roof with a crazed grin, embracing the raucous atmosphere, even though he deftly avoided the official broadcast, which aired on YouTube to around 70,000 viewers in the absence of a TV deal. And that was before a surprise appearance by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Republican congresswoman and self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist from Georgia. If day one was a Diet Maga rally, this was the Maga Classic. The crowd for Saturday’s second round of the 54-hole, no-cut tournament was slightly larger and certainly louder than Friday’s opening session, when more than 2,000 spectators descended on Trump National’s 500 acres in this rural town in central New Jersey. 75 km west of New York. The previously deserted bleachers and grass stands along the waterways filled with fans as the $25 million tournament’s middle show was played under pristine blue skies and comfortable temperatures of 88 F (31 C). Stenson, the joint overnight leader fresh from being ousted as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain last week, carded a two-under 69 to extend his lead over the field to nine under, three strokes clear of Dustin Johnson and four ahead of Patrick Reed. , Carlos Ortiz and Talor Gooch. But it was the former US president who once again grabbed the spotlight, even as the PGA Tour’s star-studded cast of renegades made their way around the 7,591-yard Old Course. A steady mass of several hundred supporters spent the afternoon outside the enclosed porch next to the 16th tee where Trump took the second half of the day’s play. Many of them wore shirts with familiar slogans: Let’s Go Brandon? Miss Me Still? Don’t blame me, I voted for Trump. Fans watch the match on the 10th green from a distance in Bedminster. Photo: Mike Stobe/LIV Golf/Getty Images Their patience was rewarded when he finally emerged from the glass to delirious roars for an impromptu rendition of God Bless America and was joined by Taylor Green, the conservative core who was coolly angling for a spot on Trump’s 2024 ticket. The atmosphere was much more calm a few hundred yards behind the 514-yard first tee, where a plaque and a bouquet of white flowers marked the freshly turned dirt plot where Ivana Trump, the former president’s first wife, was buried. week. Trump’s illegal use of the presidential seal at his Bedminster club has drawn sharp fire from ethics watchdogs, but many of his other White House tenures on the grounds fall on the right side of federal law. Anyone who left the Maga hat at home could pick one up in the pro shop: unsigned for $35, autographed for $500. Ditto for copies of his picture memoir, Our Journey Together, which cost $75. Critics have accused the Saudi government of using its reported $2 billion investment in LIV Golf to “clean up” the kingdom’s appalling human rights record, alleged links to the 9/11 attacks, a severe crackdown on women’s rights and LGBTQ+ and the murder of dissident journalist in 2018. Jamal Khashoggi. But while the Washington class spent the week wondering whether Trump’s stance toward a regime he once accused of a role in 9/11 will cost him politically, Saturday’s scenes appeared to settle the question — with golf standing firm. in the back seat.
