Words of wisdom from the great philosopher Young Jeezy on his album “Soul Survivor”. The words that golf fans and organizers of the LIV Golf Invitational series wish Phil Mickelson had taken seriously when he spoke to an unauthorized biographer earlier this year, sparking a fire storm and a debate over whether to play in a Revolutionary golf tour meant to disrupt the PGA tour is like selling your soul. Fast forward several months and the LIV Golf series has officially arrived. PGA’s controversial rival has already lured prominent players such as Mickelson and Dustin Johnson with funding from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The series, which kicked off this week with its first show in London, has been mired in controversy since Mickelson first confirmed his interest. Meanwhile, the RBC Canadian Open returned this weekend for its 111th edition after two years of cancellations related to COVID. However, RBC’s main representative at the tournament in recent years, Johnson, is not present. Neither did Mickelson, although he was not a regular on the lonely PGA Tour of Canada. Speaking about the opportunity to play in the series supported by Saudi Arabia earlier this year, Mickelson said: “We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Kasogi and have a horrible history of human rights. They execute people there because they are gay. Knowing all this, why should I think about it? Because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape the PGA Tour. They managed to cope with manipulative, coercive, powerful tactics because we, the players, had no appeal. What a nice guy [PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] realizes that unless you have leverage, it will not do what is right. And Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I’m not sure I want to [the SGL] to succeed, but only his idea allows us to do things with [PGA] Tour.” The fact that the series can compete with the PGA or give golfers leverage is not the issue. is that this is the latest example of sports wash. Translation: a country or political regime that uses the lure of sport to attract attention and goodwill to cover up and distract from human rights abuses in which they are involved. Here’s what we know: sports washing is not new. It has been a long time, but it is becoming more apparent and obviously came to stay. In this case, Saudi Arabia is a nation ruled by an authoritarian regime where women are treated as second-class citizens. The heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, says he wants to make it “a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world.” However, he has been linked to various abuses, including the murder of Jamal Kasogi, a journalist who criticized him. Although he knew about these well-documented offenses, Phil said the quiet part out loud. It’s no secret to the other LIV Golf players. In the media availability of LIV Golf ahead of its first event this week, Graeme McDowell was asked about the sporting nature of this effort and hit every spot on the BS Bingo card. He spoke in support of the US Alliance for Democracy, but said that maintaining some independence was not the answer. Something that opened him up to pressure to the extent that this “journey” of sports washing covers extremely heinous crimes and human rights violations. In the run-up to the launch of the Saudi golf course, Graeme McDowell has said that golf is a force for good. I asked how the publicly funded series would help those who have been killed, oppressed and suffered by the actions of Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/rtDaetqnG1 – Rob Harris (@RobHarris) June 7, 2022 As he stumbled upon an unconvincing answer, he came up with some truth. “As golfers, if we were to try to heal geopolitical situations in every country in the world where we play golf, we would not play much golf,” McDowell admitted. So, in a sense, these golfers are doing the same thing that many other leagues, teams and sports administrators have done: take the money until the reaction makes you lose money. Players think first and foremost about their results. The truth is that every individual and every league has a magic number where moral complications become much less complicated – this is evident in golf and the rest of the sports world. Augusta National has a troubled history, as it does not accept black members or female members for long periods, and yet there was no longing for golfers to refuse cash prizes for winning the Masters. So, it is a bit hypocritical when there are no clear rules on where to draw the line for what is and what is not acceptable. Newcastle United is controlled by the same team behind LIV Golf. Immediately after their purchase, the English football team won 10 of its next 15 games and finished at the top of half of the Premier League table. When this deal was announced last October, the reaction of the fans was not a shame, but a joy as they saw their club become one of the richest in the world overnight. So can fans criticize these golfers for accepting big checks on the Saudi-sponsored series, but then cheering for a club backed by the same money? Similarly, Paris Saint-Germain belongs to Qatar’s large state-owned investment fund. Qatar is also the host of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. In order to prepare for hosting the biggest football tournament in the world, Qatar has introduced migrant workers who have been forced to work in appalling conditions and whose passports have been confiscated so that they can not leave the country. Thousands of migrant workers have died under these conditions since the 2010 Qatar World Cup was awarded. And we have not even mentioned the inability of women to be fully involved in society and the treatment of the 2SLGBTQ + community. The Ladies European Tour has five events funded by Saudi Arabia, but because it is a difficult tour and investments in women’s sports are very necessary, the connection with Saudi Arabia in this case has not provoked a sympathetic reaction. For men, this is not even new to the sport or the region. The Saudi Golf Federation partnered with the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) and established Saudi International four years ago. In Europe, royalties are allowed, so potential LIV backs – Mickelson, Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau – receive seven-digit royalties to play in Saudi Arabia for years without question. But this was only one tournament a year in Saudi Arabia. LIV Golf already has eight tournaments scheduled, including two at Donald Trump Stadium with the final at the Trump National Doral Miami. The relationship with Trump alone is controversial. The truth is that it has nothing to do with being a role model or growing the game for these players. If it does not make dollars, it does not make sense. The PGA Tour itself does not offer salaries and guaranteed payments and does not allow tournaments to pay golfing fees (although some sponsors pay golfers to appear at certain events and tournaments). The top three career winners in PGA Tour history are Tiger Woods ($ 121 million), Mickelson ($ 95 million) and Johnson ($ 74 million). Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, who also sought to create a world tour that would compete with the PGA in the 1990s, said they were offering Tiger Woods nearly $ 1 billion. Johnson was reportedly offered $ 150 million. Mickelson was offered a $ 200 million guaranteed deal by LIV. With Leffy recently talking about his gambling debts, math tells the story there. And this applies to everyone involved. The PGA wants to maintain its monopoly, which is why it has taken a hard line. It has suspended all players who choose to play in the LIV Golf Series, but USGA is going to allow players to play next week in their open invitation. Why; Because the big players make money. Now, we’re waiting to see what the other big companies will decide. And that will be determined by how angry the audience decides they want to be. Sponsors also dismiss golfers who leave because they do not want their logos to be associated with the negative public sentiment that currently exists with LIV Golf. But do players need so many corporate partners if LIV Golf is to guarantee that they will make more than they have ever done before? Everyone has their own corner. It seems that the only ones who are not motivated solely by money are the Saudis. Their path to revenue and cost recovery for LIV Golf as a viable business model seems less clear. More people are likely to watch the LIV interview excerpts than they will watch the actual LIV Golf this weekend. They do not have a broadcast agreement in the US and are streaming their first event on YouTube. None of the major media partners of the PGA Tour in the US, such as NBC or CBS or the Golf Channel, will risk their relationship by broadcasting LIV tournaments. In a very golf way, everyone is trying to measure in which direction the wind is blowing to determine if the initial intensity of the rage will only be short-lived. And if we are going to scrutinize these transactions in sports, do we need to maintain the same energy in other areas of life? The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund also invested billions of dollars in Uber before going public and buying shares in Boeing, Facebook, Disney and Starbucks to name a few. Are you an accomplice if you work for these companies? Or, if you have stock in these companies or do you use these products? How far do individuals or companies have to go to invoke reasonable denial? We all have a prejudice about our own …
