Trump has been eager to step into the conversations between the PGA Tour and PIF since taking office and stated before the election that he could strike a deal between the two sides in 15 minutes. The President has relationships with both the PGA Tour and the PIF; his golf courses have been utilized by both circuits to hold tournaments.

The PGA Tour said on Thursday that after a meeting this week with U.S. President Donald Trump it was closer to reaching a deal with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf that would help end the years-long divide in professional golf.

To the dismal list of indignities visited upon men’s professional golf — profound division, cutthroat rancor, naked greed, rampant entitlement — we can add brazen obsequiousness, evidenced by Thursday’s statement in which PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player-directors Adam Scott and Tiger Woods had to fluff Mango Mussolini’s ego to help secure government approval for a deal to reunify the sport.