MIAMI — Dustin Johnson sat in front of a “LIV Golf” logo in England this week and, with a straight face, said, “I chose what’s best for me and my family.”
The money, he meant. Blood money, but never mind that.
When you have made a mere $72 million in your PGA Tour career, when your additional outside endorsement money starts with the TaylorMade cap they pay you to wear, when your father-in-law happens to be Wayne Gretzky, well, you get used to wealth and all that matters is more more more.
No matter the cost, apparently.
The cost in reputation, in legacy — all of the things that comprise one’s good name, the things so readily sacrificed in the name of greed.
Johnson is not alone. Former star Greg Norman and fading star Phil Mickelson are with him. So are Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell and a bunch of lesser lights.
But Johnson, a two-time major winner, currently ranked No. 15 in the world and still in his prime(ish) at 37, is the top current golfer to abandon the PGA Tour for the riches of the upstart LIV Invitational Golf Series.
On Wednesday, it was reported 2020 U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau will join the breakout tour for its first U.S. event in three weeks in Portland, Ore.
History will note these are the dubious trailblazers who, in 2022, volunteered themselves as for-hire pawns of Saudi Arabia and all it stands for. And they always will be, the stain on their name indelible.
The first of eight tournaments in the LIV season is this week, beginning Thursday on a course just north of London.
It has no mainstream television network showing it.
It offers no world-ranking points.
It is a 54-hole, shotgun-start golf tournament happening in a vacuum.
The 48-man field is heavy with marginal pros you wouldn’t recognize if they walked past you in a Walmart.
Did I mention there is $25 million prize prize purse including $4 million to the winner? And that, unlike the PGA Tour, there are not cuts and even last place gets paid?
The song says money can’t buy you love, but it sure can buy you golfers.
Here is the country Johnson, Norman, Mickelson and the rest are climbing in bed with, albeit undoubtedly on the finest silk sheets.
This is the capsule description of Saudi Arabia by the independent international group Human Rights Watch:
“Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars hosting major entertainment, cultural and sporting events as a deliberate strategy to deflect from the country’s image as a pervasive human rights violator. Scores of human rights activists remain in prison or on trial for their specific criticism. Authorities failed to hold high-level officials accountable for the suspected involvement in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi [of the Washington Post] in 2018. Through 2021, the Saudi-led coalition continued a military campaign against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen that has included scores of unlawful airstrikes that have killed and wounded thousands of civilians.”
The CIA concluded Khashoggi was ordered killed by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the same person who runs the Saudi’s “Public Investment Fund,” which stages blatant public-relations ploys such as the LIV Golf Series.
In describing Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch might also have mentioned that belonging to the LGBTQ community is a crime there, sometimes resulting in death. Or the oppression of women. Or the abuses of migrant workers. Or the country’s sham criminal justice system that saw the execution of 81 men this past March 12, most for what HRW called “protest-related charges following patently unfair trails.”
This is the government Mickelson himself once called “scary motherf------” in acknowledging its “horrible record on human rights — before being offered enough money to set that aside and be their pawn.
They call it “sportswashing”: the practice of using sports to improve a tarnished reputation. Might be China hosting an Olympics. Might be Qatar hosting the World Cup later this year. But Saudi Arabia and its oil wealth has few rivals in sportswashing.
Formula One races, soccer matches ... LIV Golf is just the latest crown jewel.
Mickelson supposedly got $200 million as a sign-on fee just to lend his name and game to the Saudis. Only took $100 million to buy Johnson, which certainly eases the sting of major sponsor Royal Bank of Canada dumping him over his Saudi ties. Legend Jack Nicklaus, on the other hand, says he turned down $100 million to be involved.
Mickelson rebuts rumors his infamous love of gambling is why he’s taking the easy money. He told Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig, “Gambling has been a part of my life ever since I can remember. But I feel good where I’m at. My family and I are and have been financially secure for some time.”
It’s one thing for the NBA and its owners to do business with China, or for Formula One to run a race in Saudi Arabia. Heck, we all know the U.S. government must maintain an uneasy alliance with the Saudis as a compromise against gas prices going even higher.
What’s happening in golf is more controversial because it’s more personal, more relatable. These are individual athletes attaching their names and faces to the Saudis’ blatant sportswashing propaganda.
This isn’t some NBA owner you’ve never heard. It’s Dustin Johnson. It’s Phil Mickelson!
Meantime the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan are trying to flex what little muscle they have, threatening the traitors among them with suspensions or fines or even banishment.
Already the tour’s leverage is eroding as next week’s U.S. Open says it will welcome all those who are qualified to compete, including those who have opted for the LIV Golf Series.
Might tennis be the next sport targeted by Saudi riches?
As long as greed lives and money talks it seems anything is possible.
Except this:
Saudi Arabia’s reputation for human rights violations is so richly earned, no amount of money and no amount of soul-selling golfers can make it go away.
5 things to know about LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed PGA Tour rival debuting this week
Saudi involvement
Updated
The root of most of the controversy surrounding this PGA Tour alternative is the source of the financial backing.
LIV Golf Investments is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. It has pledged more than $2 billion through 2025, an amount that includes tournament operations, prize money and other efforts to entice high-end golfers. Roughly $400 million has been pledged for the inaugural season, with more than a quarter billion earmarked strictly for prize money.
Most consider this a form of “sportswashing” — akin to what Qatar has done with the World Cup and what Russia did with past Olympic Games — when countries with poor reputations try to repair them, or divert attention away from it, through sports.
Greg Norman’s willingness to play 'villain' ... again
Updated
Tiger Woods has spent more weeks at No. 1 in the world than any other golfer, active or retired. No. 2 on that list belongs to Greg Norman, the eccentric 67-year old Australian who has served as the public face of LIV Golf, at least among non-competitors.
Norman has not been shy about going toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan, calling them “monopolists” and saying LIV Golf is entering the golf space to better serve professional golfers, who aren’t given ample opportunities via the PGA Tour.
This is not Norman’s first attempt and going toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour, either. Almost 30 years ago, he tried to set up a super league that would consist of smaller, 40-player fields that would compete for massive purses. The concept, which he called the World Golf Tour, was so far along that he had secured a 10-year, $250 million commitment from Fox for broadcast rights.
That league never got off the ground, though, as then-PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem convinced members of the tour to stick with the PGA. He later started up the World Golf Championship, which still exists to this day, and runs as part of the PGA Tour calendar.
Big name commitments
Updated
A major part of the recent LIV Golf buzz is the number of big-name commitments Norman has secured as it inches closer to its debut. The two biggest names on the marquee: Phil Mickelson, whose flirtation with LIV Golf was very public and controversial, and ultimately led to him stepping away from the public limelight for multiple months after comments made about the Saudis, and Dustin Johnson, one of the most successful players on the PGA Tour.
Johnson, who reportedly received more than $100 million to jump ship to LIV, resigned from the PGA Tour on Tuesday. RBC, his top sponsor, has already dropped him.
Mickelson signed a contract worth approximately $200 million, according to the Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. Both players intend to play in major championships, though that decision will ultimately be made by tournament organizers themselves.
Other notable names on board include past major winners Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer, past World No. 1 Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup fixture Ian Poulter. All eight of the aforementioned players will be in the field for its first event, scheduled to start Thursday in London.
Big name rejections
Updated
LIV Golf landed a few big fish, but it also encountered a lot of public rejection. Johnson (currently No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings), is the only top-20 player to shun the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. And the 37-year-old Johnson fits the profile of most who have been willing to make the jump: players whose golf prime is in their rear view mirrors.
Members of the PGA Tour have confirmed that just about everyone was approached to join LIV, but the vast majority rejected those overtures. Some were more outspoken than others, including Rory McIlroy, who called LIV “dead in the water” before it ever started.
It wasn’t just active 20-somethings turning down LIV. The two golfers who most frequently find themselves in discussion for golf’s GOAT were also heavily courted.
Eighteen-time major winner Nicklaus recently told reporters he was offered more than $100 million to be the public face of LIV. That’s a big number, but apparently not even close to what Norman called a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer made to Tiger Woods, which was “high nine digits.”
Changes in format
Updated
Smaller field sizes aren’t the only noticeable changes for LIV in comparison to the PGA Tour. Events will span over three days rather than four, meaning that will be 54 holes of competition instead of 72. The 54 is the inspiration for the tour’s name, which uses the L I V roman numerals to equal 54.
LIV events will not have cuts, and every participant will receive prize money. That’s not the case for the PGA Tour, where players who miss the cut do not receive any winnings. Players will compete for much larger purses, too. Each regular season event will have a $25 million purse, with at least $4 million guaranteed to each winner.
There will be team elements to the tour, too, with player-led drafts and a season-ending team championship worth $50 million.
Events will be streamed via Facebook and YouTube.
