Donald Trump and golf is more than a game. It is a passion." In 1999, Trump opened his first golf course: the Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach in Florida. Land for the US$45 million course was acquired through a lawsuit against Palm Beach County, Florida after Trump's purchase of the Mar-a-Lago resort. By 2007, Trump owned 4 courses around the US. Following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Trump began purchasing existing golf courses and re-designing them. Golf courses owned by Trump hosted the LPGA Tour finale from 2001 to 2008, as well as the 2009 US Junior Amateur and US Junior Girls
Seaton Carew Golf Club that "in the opinion of visitors that between St Andrews and Sandwich there are few better rounds on the east coast than Seaton Carew." The course has since featured in many golf publications and reviews. Seaton Carew is frequently referred to as one of the most challenging links golf courses anywhere in the British Isles. In 2009 the ""Sky News"" reporter Graeme Bailey said of his visit to these links "Seaton Carew has everything any golfer would want, but most importantly it is a course which could stand shoulder to shoulder with anything in Britain." Seaton Carew Golf Club was