LIVE: Trump’s ‘Grand Opening Ceremony’ of new Aberdeenshire golf course

LIVE: Trump’s ‘Grand Opening Ceremony’ of new Aberdeenshire golf course

the driver. Yeah. [Music] This is highlighting. That was a great [Music] I pray for Just [Music] [Music] fall in Each day I pray for the evening. All right. [Music] [Music] Louisiana. [Music] [Music] better. Wow. [Music] [Music] [Music] the leader of a big old town. Johnny go. [Music] It’s all right. [Music] It’s really nice. waiting for you. [Music] Would you like to Steven [Music] Try your own [Music] question. [Applause] New and covered with scars still with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star for this one covered with [Music] his last courage to reach [Music] the unreachable. [Music] Thank you very much. [Music] This is a man. [Applause] This is a man’s world. girl. [Music] You see man made the car over the road. Man made the tree [Music] the heavy load. Man made the light. Take us out of the man of the water. Noah made the ark. This is a man’s world. But it wouldn’t mean nothing about a woman or a girl. [Music] All right, guys. 20. But now this mic is over. Yeah. [Music] [Music] I’m totally getting as if we’re moving. I know. You’re right. No. My need for it has ended. If there’s a mold while we’re doing a bunch of his remotes, I’ll plug into it if it’s near us, right? Just better to have two copies, you know? Yeah. Especially if something happens to Well, Y’all are going to stay here the whole time. You’ll swing and then just kind of like shoot them loosely cuz we transmission. Oh, okay. But we went for like a whole lock with Jamie do stuff on the bar and then we’re going for the T. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Otherwise, this doesn’t. [Music] Oh. Ow. Ow. That doesn’t feel good. Lord, ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning to you all to say. I’m Lee McKenzie and it’s a pleasure to welcome you all here. Thank you so much for your company. Um, whilst it was never in doubt, I think we can probably all satisfy the weather, which is playing balls thankfully because it’s quite exposed out here. Uh Trump International Golf Links here in Aberdine opened in 2012, heralding the transformation of this stretch of the North Sea coastline into a stunning multi-awward-winning golf destination admired by golfers from all over the world. Within a few years, the first course built here, now known as the Old, achieved a reputation as being one of the best courses in the world, a truly outstanding example of modern links gold design. buffer with no resting on laurels and onwards it was to the creation of the second championship course and today we celebrate the grand opening of the new course. We’ll hear more about that shortly but please welcome onto the team Guy Kennings the CEO of DP World Tour. First Minister, Ambassador, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the entire European tour group, we’re delighted to be here to celebrate the opening of the new course at Trump International Golf Lings. I’m sure you’ll all agree this is already a world-class venue. And over the next Fortnite, the European tour group plan to do something quite unique and we hope rather special. We will for the first time play back-to-back events at a single venue. First, we have the Stacore PGA Seniors Championship hosted by Colin Montgomery on our Legends Tour, which starts on Thursday with some of the icons from our game and our tour. We’re joined here today by Ryan Ham, the founder of Stacore and chairman of the Legends Tour, and Rob Maxfield, chief executive of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, who brought the Legends Tour here since 2023. I’d like to thank both of them and to wish them and their teams well for the this week’s championship. Next week we have the Nexo Championship which will be played for the first time on the old course that will showcase some of the exciting global talent that we have on the DP World Tour. We’re pleased to have Costa KV and Anthony Trenchev, the co-founders of Nexo with a number of their leading team members and we want to thank them for their support. This double header is testament to the stunning course that already exists here. But we’re here to celebrate a new chapter for this venue with the unveiling of the new course. I had the chance to look around yesterday with SE and I have to say it is exceptional. I would love to say a personal thank you to Sarah Malone for all of her extraordinary hard work on this project. Sarah, to you and to your entire team here at Trump International Golf Links, thank you for welcoming us here today, not just for this occasion, but also for this unique fortnight of golf over the two events. I know that Mr. Eric Trump has been personally and deeply involved in leading the design and development of the new course, what he calls his baby. So, I’d like to commend and congratulate Eric, the Trump family, the Trump organization for their vision and achievement in what they’ve managed to bring together for today. As you can see from our very very illustrious guests who are gathered here today, this is a significant occasion for us to have the president of the United States, the first minister of Scotland and yesterday the prime minister all here together shines a wonderful light on our sport. And it’s only fitting that it should happen here in Scotland in the home of golf. Their presence is validation of the appeal of golf both as a sport and as an industry. Hosting professional golf tournaments brings global exposure as well as proven economic and social benefits for host venues and for regions. As golf’s global tour, we’ve been playing in every corner of the world for more than half a century, visiting more countries than any other tour. Through our partnership with the PGA Tour and with other international tours, we also showcase global talent from over 40 countries. But it’s always special to come back to Scotland, which has such a rich golfing history. With the president’s Scottish roots, this course clearly has profound significance and meaning for him and the entire Trump family. I’d therefore like to thank President Trump for creating this magnificent new course and indeed for his long-term commitment to the game of golf itself. We’d like to congratulate the president on this official opening today, knowing what it means to him and knowing all the work that’s been put in by everyone involved. We look forward to seeing this fabulous new course being enjoyed by many visitors over the years and further enhancing what is already a very impressive venue here at Trump International Golf Ring. Once again, thanks everyone. Thank you all for being here and please enjoy this very special occasion. Thank you. Thank you very much, Guy. Uh we’re going to take a short pause in the proceedings and resume the ceremony shortly. Cheers. [Music] [Music] Sitting here waiting for you. [Music] Baby, baby, tonight I want some hot baby. [Music] What’s up? I want some. [Music] Yeah. Another night on my own [Music] backing. [Music] I need [Music] on both sides. the point. Yeah. [Music] Oh yeah. [Music] [Music] [Music] for myself. I want to help myself. Sitting here Another night on my own baby. [Music] [Music] I need tonight. [Music] I want a baby tonight. Baby, I need your hot baby tonight. baby tonight. I got the motor flying. and lose control. You better shape up my heart. [Music] Okay, sir. Huh? Is the signal okay? I haven’t heard complaints about the signal. Oh, yeah. Have to feed all the kids and stuff. Yeah, it’s all it’s everyone. It’s the whole family. I can only see. Oh, sorry. We We were just saying we didn’t say anything bad. [Music] Your shine [Music] direction. [Music] [Music] [Music] I want you. [Music] We get the right [Music] just like good morning. Hello. How are you? Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, we can’t shaking everything. [Music] You don’t [Music] have to. Yeah. [Music] [Music] Well, I can get Anyway, [Music] it fits all the way down there, isn’t it? Yeah. [Music] [Music] President Trump is walking off of the dragon. They’re walking off. [Music] [Music] Turn on the [Music] [Music] Stand up so I can stand up. Go ahead. [Music] [Music] 2. [Music] [Music] by the purple. So I can see the purple arch behind me. He’s behind it. So you can’t see him now. Oh, you do. [Music] moving. Oh, I see. [Music] That building. I think the woman is um she’s the one that like runs the golf course. The woman runs the golf course. Sarah. [Music] Yeah, he’s in there. No. You know how you like you’re like this for so long it starts to go blurry? [Music] [Music] [Music] Tons of practice here. Kill your mic a second. [Music] [Music] I love you so [Music] baby. [Music] love. Now you’re gone. [Music] [Music] I love you so. [Music] I love you. Baby, [Music] I want to be [Music] love. [Music] I love you so. I’m not sure what that was. When I look into the same last And it’s hard to hold it down. Let it go. [Music] If you want to love me, don’t walk. Neody. I know it’s hard to keep on broken Take me out. [Music] Yeah, it was a big one. [Music] all alone. Everybody alone. [Music] What is that? [Music] I’m going [Music] to dark away. Even the rainbow. How do I get I’m sorry. Lords, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. We’re going to start the ceremony proceedings. We are honored to have the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America with us on this historic occasion. and members of the first family. We are delighted to see that today’s grand opening is being attended by civic leaders from the UK, renowned international golfers, industry leaders, sporting legends, as well as special guests who have been so generous and their continuing support for Trump Golf in Scotland. We’re delighted to welcome the first minister of Scotland, John Swinny. Warren Stevens, the US ambassador to the UK, Alistister King, Lord Mayor of the City of London, Anna Sarwire, leader of the Scottish Labor Party, and the leadership of Aberdine Council, Provice Judy White and CEO Jim Savage. From the world of golf, we have as, as you just heard, Guy Kenning, CEO of DP World Tour, Rob Maxfield, CEO of the PGA of Great Britain, Ryan Ham, founder and CEO of Stayhore Group and principal owner of the Legends Tour, and Phil Harrison, the CEO of the Legends Tour. Of course, the events being staged today and over the next two weeks at Trump International Golf Scotland would not happen with the tremendous without the tremendous support of sponsors. We are delighted to see today Sir John Manzone, executive chairman of Diagio, a great supporter of golf and Cardu is the hospitality sponsor today. You’ll all have seen or possibly even traveled in some gleaming Range Rovers. So, a heartfelt thank you to Jaguar Land Rover. We also have our sporting legends who will be playing today and over the next few days, including USPGA winner Rich Beam, former rider Cup captain Paul Mcinley, and US Open winner Michael Campbell. We also have legends from the footballing world who’ll be testing out the links including Andre Shenenko, John Franco Zola, Robbie Fowler, and Aberdine’s very own Jim Leighton. And thank you very much to the members of the club too for your continued support. No doubt you’ve stood on these links in much wilder conditions, but it’s great to have you all here today. Um before I hand over to Sarah, I just want to say a couple of polite requests. After President Trump hits the first shot and leads off the opening four ball, we will have a short interlude. Guests may stay and enjoy the following four balls whilst the world’s media are escorted back to the media center or guests may leave and head back to the pavilion for refreshments. And members, you’re very welcome to watch the golf during the day, but please do not follow the presidential foreball and abide by the directions from the stewards. Housekeeping over. Without further ado, please welcome onto the team the executive vice president of Trump International Scotland, Sarah Malone. [Applause] Ambassador, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is my absolute privilege um to welcome you here to the grand opening of the new course and the launch of the greatest 36. It has been my distinct pleasure for the best part of nearly two decades to work with the Trump family on delivering the vision of one man. He determined many years ago when others said that it was not possible and could not be done. And he determined that he could and he would and he has developed the greatest 36 holes in golf here in the home of golf. For almost 20 years, a great many of you are in the grand stand today who have participated and supported and contributed to our journey. It’s been something to behold and we are greatly honored. So many of you traveled from across the globe to be with us here this morning. We appreciate you. Thank you. There are too many people in the auditorium that I would like to thank. Um, we’ll get the chance to do that later. But I would like to introduce to the team the two men that I’ve been working with alongside their father Donald J. Trump is Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. [Applause] You’re going to set me on fire. [Music] I don’t know which way to go. [Music] [Applause] Well, this day has been a very long time coming everybody. what started as truly a passion project for my father. 2007 2009 we started the old course. He had one goal and that’s to build the greatest 18 holes anywhere in the world. And I saw him and I watched him at the time. He put every ounce of his heart and his soul and his effort into finding the best piece of land to creating the greatest property to build the greatest clubhouse to shape the dunes and build something that’s truly truly exceptional. and he went off to do larger things and that’s save the free world, save the United States of America. And I can just tell you on behalf of our entire family, on behalf of every single one of us in the Trump Organization, we wanted to continue his legacy. And so like he did in 2009, I’ve put every single ounce of my heart and soul into grading a compliment to the first course. We wanted this to be the greatest 36 holes anywhere on Earth. There’s no question. There’s no question that that’s been achieved. This course is remarkable. This course, you will feel our heart and soul in it. You will feel our passion. You will feel the dedication. You know, nothing was left. Nothing was left out. We had an unlimited budget and we exceeded it. You know, this was his Mona Lisa. And my father’s always said, he always said, you know, some people really appreciate the painting on the wall, you know, the beautiful and he never did, right? For him, you know, creating this, right? the these beautiful sculpting the dunes, sculpting the land. That was always his painting. And so I really hope today that we honor uh the greatest man I know, our best friend, a person who’s led this company for for 30 years and now leads the most powerful nation in the world. Uh and is doing a hell of a job. I hope in his absence, we really honored him today. And it’s it’s an incredible honor to have him out here. Uh before I bring him to the stage, I want to bring our our Greens crew because without Steve and our guys on the ground, this would not happen. Steve, come down here. This team is the absolute best anywhere. Their attention to detail, they are more meticulous than any team that you’ll ever meet. And that’s also true of the construction team who put this together with Amy with with with Easy and with Jamie and with Claire and with Christian and with also the famous Dr. Martin Eert. It was a team of the best people in the entire world. And again, when you get out there, you’re going to see something that’s truly second to none. So, without further ado, we owe this course to a remarkable person, a remarkable man, a person that we all love incredibly much. and uh he’s going to come down here and we are going to cut this beautiful ribbon and uh we’re proud of him. Our family’s proud of him. Our nation’s proud of him. I think the entire world is proud of him and I think he’s going to be incredibly proud of this uh amazing masterpiece that we created here today. So, the president of the United States, ladies and gentlemen, Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] up here. [Music] [Applause] [Music] What do you think the father’s plans to be, Mr. President? Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Well, that is a beautiful sound and we want to thank them. What talent you have young ones and you have little older ones and they’re going to be the young ones are going to be doing that for 60 years just like the little older ones are doing and I want to thank them very much. Great group. Heard them last night. I also want to thank uh your first minister who’s here, John. Would you stand up? John Swinny, who’s a terrific guy and loves golf and loves the people of this uh of this country and we really appreciate it. You’re really a very special guy. Thank you very much for everything, John. My son Eric has worked so hard on this and it’s been truly a labor of love for him and we started with a beautiful piece of land but we made it much more beautiful and uh the area has given us they’ve really welcome welcomed us if you remember at the beginning it wasn’t quite a welcome but it wasn’t bad but with time they’ve liked us more and more and now they love us and we love them. They really put it out and they know how good this whole complex is. It’s Trump International. We have the first course which we call the old course and the second course which we call the new course because that’s the best way to describe uh anything else gets too complicated. They don’t know which is which. But they know the old and the new and it’s going to be uh something very special. And the big question is which is going to be better if there’s such a thing because we’ve had such great ratings on the first. I don’t know if you can match them on the second, but the second should be every bit as good. The land is of equal quality right on the North Sea and it’s going to be really it’s going to be great. I look forward to playing it today. We’ll play it very quickly and then I go back to DC and we put out fires all over the world. We did one yesterday. As you know, we stopped the war, but we stopped about five wars. So, that’s uh much more important than playing golf. As much as I like it, it’s much more important. I want to just thank Sarah Malone for having been with us right from the beginning. She was young and not experienced. Now she’s still young and very experienced. So I just want to thank you and my and my son Don for uh for being with us all the way. He’s always been with us and he’s a great guy and he’s got some great golfers in the family. Kai and he’s got one right over there, that little one. She may be one of the most talented in the whole family. She’s something special, right? So, uh, that’s Chloe. She’s, you’ll be reading about her someday walking down the 18th hall of some great course, I think. Right. She’s very talented, actually. So, uh, I just want to thank everybody. This has been an unbelievable development. The land, they said it couldn’t get zoned. It was an impossibility. And Sean Connory said, “Let the bloody bloke build his golf course.” Once he said that, everything came into line. John and I were talking about it last night. Everything came into line. I want to thank, by the way, the prime minister was here last night and was really very gracious and loves the place, loves the area. So, I just want to thank him very much for coming and gave him a little preview and it was really very nice and we just signed a very big deal as you know with the uh European Union but also with the United Kingdom. the United Kingdom was a week before and it’s a very big deal and a great deal for the country and it’s a great deal for everybody. So, I just want to thank him and everybody that works so hard on they’ve been trying to get it done for 12 years. We got it done. So, somebody did a good job. So, I just uh guess we’re going to be hitting a couple of balls and we’re going to play the round. And Laura, I want to thank you, the head of the Republican party for during the election, which was the time they counted and she was fantastic. and Ron and Larry. Thank you very much. And uh everybody, we just had tremendous tremendous support from everybody, especially the family. These are very hard to build and you won’t see them built anymore. You’ll probably never see another course built in the dunes, not dunes like this, to the uh groundskeepers who I know so well from number one, the first thing I said, which is better, the old or the new? And they were unable to give me an answer. They actually meant it. But great job you’ve done with your course superintendent who’s been here for a long time and we just want to thank you and to all of our friends to all of our great friends. Thank you very much. So I’ll be playing quickly and then I’ll be heading back and I look forward to that. But I really look forward to playing. So thank you everybody and thank you to the media. The media has been terrific, believe it or not. I didn’t use See, I didn’t use the word fake news one time. Not one time. Today they’re not fake news. Today they’re wonderful news. But uh I just want to thank you. They’ve treated us really well and they respect what we’ve done really at a level that you rarely see nowadays. So I really very much appreciate it. And we’re going to go out. We’re going to have a good time. Thank you all of the dignitaries and all of my friends. It’s going to be a special day and it’s going to be a special year and it’s going to be a special decade and we’re going to make all of our countries strong and great and uh really wonderful again. And that’s happening and it’s happening very fast. And uh we love Scotland. You know, my mother was born here and she loved it. She would come back here religiously once a year during the summers with my sister Maryanne and sometimes my sister Elizabeth, but they would come here religiously and Storway. That’s serious Scotland by the way. There’s no doubt about that. So the aisle of Lewis, I want to just thank everybody and have a good time today. Play well. Enjoy yourselves and many, many years. We’ll see each other many, many years. Thank you very much everybody. And ladies and gentlemen, before we cut the ribbon, we want to present something to a very, very special person, a person who’s truly become a member of our family, and that’s Sarah Malone. She’s dumped 16 years of her life into this incredible property. She’s built every inch alongside of the entire family. And there’s no one more deserving of this than than her. She’s uh truly truly become a friend, family, and a person we love very much. So, I know she’s going to get emotional. I can see the lips, but you deserve every moment of this incredible day. Not only are we doing this ribbon cutting, not only are we doing a presidential visit, we’re also doing the Legends Tour, we’re also doing the DP World Tour back to back. I think Guy will tell you that’s the first time in history that you’ve ever had two tournaments playing in back-to-back weekends on the same course. So, you’re a rock star. We love you. We appreciate you very much. And this is for you, sir. [Applause] The honor ready. So may God bless everyone, everyone here and everyone everywhere. We have a world that’s got some conflict, but we’ve ironed out a lot of it. We have a great and peaceful world on a much smaller scale. This will be a tremendously successful place, a place where people can come and enjoy life. And it’s very special. So hope Everybody in Scotland and well beyond Scotland enjoys it for many many years to come. Let’s go. One, two, three. [Applause] What’s I believe. the honor. Please welcome onto the tea the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. He likes the course, ladies and gentlemen. He likes the course a lot. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a good time. Thank you very much. Next up, and no pressure, Eric Trump. [Applause] Former Rider Cup Canon and team member Paul McInley. [Applause] and USB champion Rich Be. [Applause] Mr. Mr. President, come and tell us about the course. Mr. President, what will you say next to Benjamin Netanyahu? Good job. [Applause] [Applause] [Music] Okay, good. [Music] I eat my dinner in a fancy T-Rex. [Music] [Music] [Music] Can’t stop tears falling. boy. [Music] Guess what? [Music] Yeah. Yeah. [Music] All the flowers [Music] with you, baby. [Music] Nothing compares nothing to you. [Music] Yep. I didn’t know [Music] [Music] You don’t have to put on a [Music] [Applause] You don’t have to wear that dress tonight. [Music] You don’t ever [Music] [Music] [Applause] know. [Music] I knew I just love know [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] what you get with the beat. Heat. Heat. [Music]

US President Donald Trump leads the Grand Opening Ceremony of Trump International Golf Links Aberdeen.

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