Golf Belongs to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

 

Monahan Wants a Mulligan 

It was a slow Monday at work or I wouldn’t have noticed the headline scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen. It said something about a golf merger. The guy being interviewed was the ever present Jay Monahan, the PGA Commissioner. I put the Golf Channel on at work because it’s easy to ignore. ESPN isn’t quite as good for background. They have too many yelling, excitable anchors who treat their own opinions like preachers treat the gospel. My first thought was, this can’t be true, not after the way the PGA treated players who left their league.

Monahan himself is on record questioning player loyalty. "I would ask any player who has left or any player who would consider leaving, 'Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?'" The implication here is that since the Saudi’s own the LIV tour it’s tantamount to playing for terrorists. Actually this whole, the-Saudi’s-don’t-respect-human-rights, PR campaign has been in full swing since the split. The PGA and its players have leaned into it. It was the case when the US government started selling them military equipment. It was true when global oil companies did business with the kingdom. Formula One held a race in Jeddah in March. Global horse races, art shows and martial arts exhibitions all go there.

This new deal doesn’t mean the kingdom is suddenly cosmopolitan and liberal however. But it always felt like a reactionary barb, meant to put a mark on those players who decided to leave. It looks downright silly now. Calling someone a criminal isn’t the same as calling them greedy. We assume the greedy person can become generous, or at the very least pragmatic. But when you call someone a criminal, multiple times and in multiple ways, where can you go? The PGA just shamelessly turned around and said, “nah brah, it’s cool”. That underlines their original position entirely and makes them look ridiculous.

I have no idea how decisions are made in any sport. But dumping on the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) and their country’s problem of abuses was a negotiating technique by PGA officials to keep as many players at home as possible. If they only lost some of the older stars like (Mickelson, Garcia and Poulter) they could weather the storm. The PGA was desperate to keep its brand intact but ultimately lost the gamble. Was this the plan all along, to merge leagues so that everyone makes more money? Both leagues probably decided it made more sense to end the war in the courts. Most of these court cases will drag on for years and end up hurting the bottom line of both.

My sympathies are with the golfers PGA loyalists, Rory and Morikawa and Scheffler. They resisted the millions offered to leave and now they look like suckers. Their good deeds and loyalty were held cheaply by a backstabbing tour. It left them in the fox hole while negotiating a settlement during the firefight. Staying with the PGA, also meant these players had some kind of future promises of a better financial arrangement. The PGA was setting up larger purses, more tournaments and chances to earn money. It’s hard to imagine a more duplicitous public act. Monahan should resign, at least then it would appear that the anti-Saudi wing of the PGA lost the argument.

We don’t know the details of the new arrangement yet. So far it’s just a press release. But the wealthy PIF is the biggest investor in the new merger. It’s also going to bring in the DP World Tour which is Europe’s primary league. Basically that means the Saudis own golf now. Global golf belongs to the Kingdom of Saud. Amazing.

I prefer the old days where America dominated everything in entertainment and sports. It wasn’t that long ago was it? But too many people think of the United States as spreading democracy to the rest of the world. It isn’t. It doesn’t. It won’t. If the last 8 to 10 years hasn’t made you realize how actually corrupt our government and businesses are then you aren’t paying attention. That probably seems like moral relativism but it’s really just an acceptance of the way things are. I don’t excuse any country for its history or its present, but I’m also not in the mood to lecture after what’s become of our own institutions.

At first I bought the story the PGA was selling, the historic tour doing it’s damnedest to keep the sacred game unsoiled from the barbarian horde. But I also figured a little competition would be good for golf. Some of the changes in the LIV game were interesting at least, 54 holes and team play. Both tours came to Tulsa in the last two years. Not bad for a midsize city. But now it looks like all the grand posturing from the PGA was a big joke. Should I be surprised?