Let's start by debunking a few myths about LIV Golf, shall we?
Backed by the billions of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, it exists for one reason: to launder the Kingdom's reputation.
LIV Golf heads to what should be its spiritual home this week: Trump National
And whatever the players say, they have agreed to help do that for one reason: boatloads of money.
How could anyone say no? Perhaps that is a question for 78 of the world's top 100 players - who have, literally, all said no to this point.
Asked to sacrifice sporting integrity and moral positions, is it possible some refuse to put a price on those things with millions already in the bank?
Ditching the Ryder Cup and potentially future Majors, all for a bigger mansion, isn't the style of Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods. Their legacies are worth more.
Quirky formats - such as 54 holes, shotgun starts, 48-man fields and team elements - might be interesting if they weren't designed to service greed and sportwashing.
As a golf fan, even without those two integral problems, you are still left with a desperate product: no true superstars, no Official World Golf Ranking points, and nothing at stake except money. Last place still walks off with £120,000.
It is no surprise Woods - one of sport's greatest ever competitors - is against LIV Golf
Did anyone watch the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool wondering how much money the winner would get?
And amid the uproar over the failed European Super League, did anyone say the directors of those 12 football clubs were right to sack off everything else and take the money?
In a football sense, think of LIV Golf as the European Super League but with Norwich, Real Betis and Torino as the best clubs. Then add in the Saudi stuff. Not much to like, is there?
Hence, the only way it works is if those involved lie through their teeth. After all, this began when Phil Mickelson called the Saudis 'scary mother*******' and admitted he was only using them to gain leverage on the PGA Tour.
Henrik Stenson has given up the Ryder Cup captaincy to join LIV
The dishonesty was enough to insult a toddler's intelligence before the first event in Hertfordshire, when we were forced to swallow garbage about 'growing the game' and 'helping Saudi Arabia on their journey'.
So drafting in Donald Trump must feel like a natural step for such a project. It is a match made in heaven for the former US president.
Truth has never mattered all that much to Trump, who claims to have a handicap of 3. Safe to say, those who have seen him play golf beg to differ.
Like LIV CEO Greg Norman, who often bottled it as a player and failed with a breakaway league in the nineties, golf has damaged Trump's ego and there is a sense of personal vengeance behind his involvement in this project.
Trump has been defending LIV Golf this week
Trump National was stripped of the 2022 PGA Championship following the invasion of the US Capitol and the R&A has hinted Turnberry will not be used for The Open while it remains in the American's hands.
As the third LIV Golf event descends on Trump National Bedminster on Thursday, the 76-year-old has already dialled up the nonsense.
Relatives of the 9/11 victims are planning to protest against the Kingdom's alleged involvement in the terrorist attacks, calling the players 'shameless' for 'accepting blood money'.
Trump, himself, blamed Saudi Arabia for the hijacked planes in the run-up to his presidency in 2016. He said: "Who blew up the World Trade Center? It wasn't the Iraqis, it was the Saudis, take a look at the documents, open the documents."
But when asked about it in New Jersey on Tuesday, he said: "I don't know much about the 9/11 families.
"I don't know what is the relationship to this, and their very strong feelings, and I can understand the feelings.
"I can't really comment on that because I don't know exactly what they're saying and what they're saying who did what?"
It gets worse.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is behind the influx of money into sport
"I think LIV has been a great thing for Saudi Arabia, for the image of Saudi Arabia," he said.
"I think it's going to be an incredible investment from that standpoint, and that's more valuable than lots of other things because you can't buy that - even with billions of dollars.
"I do think that the publicity that they've gotten, more than anything, has been a great thing for them.
"I think the publicity they've gotten is worth billions of dollars. It's one of the hottest things to have happened in sports, and sports is a big part of life."
McDowell addressed questions over the Saudi regime in awkward fashion
Like Graeme McDowell, the one who said he was 'happy to help Saudi Arabia on their journey', Trump appears to suggest it is a good thing that golf has helped to cover up the nation's human rights record.
It is not the oppression of women and homosexuals that has changed as a result of LIV Golf, it is the 'image' of Saudi Arabia.
There is nobody better than Trump to make the world play dumb and when asked about the suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi regime, he said: "That has died down so much. Nobody has asked me that question in months."
That is when you realise, like all the players, Trump is paid to make that happen, and hopes he can just talk it into existence.
Players have struggled to face the media because there are no right answers
Besides the benefits of hosting LIV events at his course, the sovereign wealth fund has injected billions into the private equity fund of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
But what truly makes Trump the perfect figurehead for LIV is the way he thinks about golf.
In 2015, he said: "Let golf be elitist.
"When I say 'aspire', that's a positive word. Let people work hard and aspire to some day be able to play golf. To afford to play it.
Trump's passion for golf is well-documented - but he doesn't care so much for the rules
"They're trying to teach golf to people who will never be able to really play it. They're trying too hard. People should come to golf, golf shouldn't come to them."
As a reminder, LIV are supposedly hellbent on 'growing the game'.
Trump has never really been one for sporting integrity, either.
His name features on the walls of Bedminster next to senior championship titles and the club's Member-Member crown.
But according to author Rick Reilly's 'Commander in Cheat' book, officials at the course say he never even entered the Member-Member competition.
Meanwhile, the caddies at Winged Foot gave Trump the nickname 'Pele' for his habit of kicking the ball back into play.
In a way, it is rather fitting that whoever wins this weekend will get a plaque next to Trump on the walls of Bedminster.
It is a place where honour and everything else golf should stand for seem irrelevant.
No comments:
Post a Comment