What do you get when a despotic, oil-rich regime starts a golf league? Meet LIV Golf, the new $2 billion investment project Saudi Arabia hopes will distract you from its ongoing human rights abuses. Players shouldn’t support their cause.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, is financing the new professional golf league which hopes to compete against the Professional Golf Association. While the PGA dominates the world of golf, its grip is starting to loosen as some top players jump ship for the upstart Saudi league.
LIV has managed to snatch a slew of top talent from the PGA, including the world’s No. 2 golfer and recent British Open champion, Cameron Smith. The PGA has suspended every player who joins LIV, including Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and even Phil Mickelson.
There’s no doubt about what is attracting players to LIV: the dolla dolla bills. Each defector has been lured by fat checks and a steady pay structure. While PGA players pay to play – excluding prize money – LIV pays players to play. Both Smith and Mickelson reportedly received over $100 million just to play in the LIV Tour. And don’t forget about the prize money. The winner of the first LIV tournament took home $4 million, compared to the $2.7 million for the top prize at the Masters this year.
This massive investment is part of a broader strategy by Saudi Arabia to “sportswash” its global image – diverting attention from its human rights record to its new sports endeavors. The PIF bought Newcastle F.C. for over $400 million last year, signed a $600 million deal with Formula 1, and has spent over $1.5 billion breaking into the professional gaming industry. Keep in mind that LIV Golf doesn’t even have an international television deal yet. The regime has money to spend and is willing to pour it into less financially lucrative opportunities – even a golf league – if it helps cleanse its global image.
Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights is no secret. The government imprisons and tortures dissidents, prohibits non-Muslim worship, and executes people for nonviolent offenses including homosexuality. Until recently, women were not allowed to drive without the consent of a male guardian.
Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, often critical of the regime, was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA concluded that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman approved the execution. The same hand that signed off on the Khashoggi murder is signing checks to LIV players (metaphorically).
CEO of LIV Golf, Greg Norman, had a difficult time answering questions about the league’s primary investor in an interview with Sky Sports.
“I don’t know what the Saudi government does. I don’t want to get into that,” Norman said. “They’re not my bosses. We’re independent. I do not answer to Saudi Arabia.”
And yet, without Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Norman is out of a job.
What about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi?
“Look, we’ve all made mistakes,” Norman said.
Phil Mickelson twisted himself into logical pretzels last February when trying to explain his thought process.
“We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights,” Mickelson said of Saudi Arabia. “They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”
If only logical gymnastics were a sport, he could give up golf.
Hard as Mr. Mickelson and others may try to compare the Saudi regime to the “dictatorship” of the PGA, there is no moral equivalence. The undeniable mission of the LIV is to sportswash Saudi Arabia and its despicable record of human rights abuses. Any player who joins the LIV becomes an agent in that mission.
Skeptics may point to our alliance with Saudi Arabia and ask why President Joe Biden can fist bump Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and send him billions of dollars in arms, but golfers can’t take money from MBS. Here’s why: Unfortunate as our strategic situation may be, realpolitik has its demands, and your two-putt isn’t defending regional allies like Israel from the predations of Iran. Besides, LIV isn’t the only way to play pro golf.
To professional golfers: When LIV Golf comes knocking with a multi-million-dollar deal, turn it down. All those zeroes are tempting, but you can’t take it with you.
