If the week could get any better for US Masters champion Rory McIlroy, the news that the Saudi-backed LIV golf tour is in crisis will have added considerably to his joy. After pumping over $5 billion dollars into the concept since its inception in 2021, the most egregious attempt yet at sportswashing may be about to fall flat on its face.
McIlroy has been one of the most vociferous critics of the challenge to the US and European golf tours over the last five years, recognising how deeply divisive it has been for the sport.
Greed and obscene amounts of money go hand-in-hand with many of the world’s most popular professional sports. But the staggering level of investment in golf by the Saudi Public Investment Fund almost beggared belief. Signing on fees of up to $500 million were offered to some of the world’s top players in an effort to lure them to a new golfing circus.
This would have given the Saudis a serious foothold in a sport not traditionally associated with the desert kingdom or its climate. But the Saudis, eager to capitalise on the use of sport’s soft power for countries with abysmal human rights records, found that even vast wealth could not entice marquee players such as McIlroy or Tiger Woods to join the tawdry enterprise. It is a pity that many other leading figures, including footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, boxer Tyson Fury and the governing body for soccer, Fifa, have not shown the same misgivings in recent years.
READ MORE
The breakaway golf tour created a serious fissure in the sport and underlined the innate selfishness of many leading players. But the tide has now turned. Some of LIV’s biggest stars are now opting to pay huge financial penalties to rejoin the PGA tour.
Sensing that mood change, the Saudis appear to be on the verge of abandoning their costly exercise in buying sport for nothing other than its value as a marketing camouflage. Hopefully, this particular vulgar exercise in sportswashing will give others second thoughts about going down the same route.
