In this case, it’s unclear whether Trump’s business is getting a cut of the ticket revenue. But the business, and the Trump brand more broadly, certainly stands to gain positive publicity.
The Golf Channel broadcast Friday’s round and NBC, the network that made Trump a star with the “The Apprentice,” will broadcast the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday. Nine golfers are wearing Trump-brand gear while they compete.
“This course is going to get TV time. It’s going to get status. The world’s best players are going to be playing there on national television,” said Andrew Wood, a golf marketing expert who has advised hundreds of course owners. Wood said that might cause the course to rise in national rankings and to attract more dues-paying members and more events for the course’s ballroom.
There is also a crucial boost to the owner’s status in the world of golf.
“It’s ego,” Wood said.
It’s not clear, for now, whether Trump himself will attend. The president will be back in Washington on Sunday from his trip overseas, in time for the tournament’s final day.
His arrival would bring the spotlight of the White House press corps to the tournament and this course, and it could allow a struggling president to associate himself with a success from his past life.
The White House won’t say for certain if he plans to attend.
“This event is not on the President’s schedule,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay E. Walters wrote to The Washington Post. “Happy to circle back if that changes.”
She declined to answer questions about whether Trump’s advisers had considered the ethical implications of showing up at the course in the middle of a tournament.