The PGA Tour’s announcement of its merger with the Saudi fund behind LIV Golf to create a new entity — “name TBD” — is a stunning turnabout.
The Tuesday announcement shocked players, who were not given advance notice of the agreement. In taking the easy way out to avoid litigation and the loss of talent, the PGA Tour has shown itself to be complicit in Saudi Arabia’s “sportswashing,” disingenuous in its protestations about the kingdom’s human-rights record, and contemptuous toward those players who had taken a stand to resist the gobs of Saudi cash being dangled in front of them. (Tiger Woods turned down an offer that would have been worth $700 million to $800 million.)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman got what he wanted: international legitimacy that no diplomatic summit could provide. The deal is another indication that Saudi Arabia is at little risk of becoming the “pariah” then-candidate Joe Biden once pledged to make it (although that was probably never really in the offing).
The arrangement, if approved, abruptly concludes a battle that started with LIV Golf’s founding in 2021 as a rival to the PGA Tour. Backed by a $600 billion fund, the project boasted golf legend Greg Norman as commissioner and lured stars such as Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka.
At least some players knew exactly whom they were getting into business with: “They’re scary motherf***ers,” Mickelson was quoted as saying (he later claimed this was off the record), citing the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the kingdom’s “horrible” human-rights record. This was balanced out, he reasoned, by the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.” In reaction to the merger, Mickelson tweeted, “Awesome day today.”
It remains to be seen how the merger may change the tradition-bound sport. The notoriously fun-loving Saudis had tried to loosen things up, after going crazy a few years earlier and letting women drive cars. As the New York Times reported, “LIV had music blaring at its events, looser dress codes and team competitions — and tournaments that lasted three days instead of four.”
At its heart, this week’s developments are a testament to the venality of the PGA Tour. As Jim Geraghty noted, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suggested a year ago that golfers signing up for the Saudi league would have to someday apologize, citing the Saudi connections to 9/11. Apart from that, the country’s human-rights abuses, according to the State Department’s 2022 report, include credible reports of “extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country.” Despite the “reformist” image cultivated by the crown prince, Saudi Arabia just last year carried out the largest mass execution in decades.
Now, this is all to be forgotten like a bogey on the front nine. Monahan trumpets the “world-class investing experience” that the Tour’s new partners bring to the table. “This will engender a new era in global golf, for the better,” he said. We’re skeptical of that, but there is no doubt that it constitutes one of the most shocking acts of shamelessness in modern sports history.