Bob Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy and Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG), was not a Vietnam War protester in the 1960s. The Baltimore, Maryland, native enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and was a part of the 26th Marine Regiment before serving as a rifleman in Vietnam in 1969. He spent two months in a naval hospital after being wounded in action and earned a Purple Heart, the combat action ribbon and the Vietnam Vietnam Gallantry Cross.
But in a recent interview in Esquire, Parsons, who is now 72, made it clear that he is with the people who have protested outside LIV Golf events against the Saudi-backed tour.
“I will say this here, on the LIV tour, I consider myself a patriot,” Parsons said. “With the stuff that went down at 9/11, I have a hard time getting involved with them. I know, sometimes, bygones got to be bygones, and I’ve forgiven a lot of people. One of them is Jane Fonda for what she did during the Vietnam War. I’m no longer angry at her. I get it. She was young and stupid. But I just cannot bring myself to do anything with [LIV], and the guys who are heroes, they all agree with that.”
Parsons is a fan of wearing all black, riding powerful motorcycles (he owns Harley-Davidson dealerships) and loves nothing more than supporting American veterans. He has donated millions of dollars to veteran-related charities, give members of the military and first responders get a discount on PXG gear and even gave holes at Scottsdale National Golf Club, which Parsons owns, military-inspired names and plaques.
Knowing that, LIV golfers should not bother calling Parsons or PXG regarding future sponsorships.
“Well, we really don’t have guys on that tour,” Parsons said. “I mean, we’ve had some guys that had contracts that went on that tour, and I honored the contracts. But now that the contracts are up, I have no contract with them, and I don’t think they can contract with sponsors with the LIV tour, at least. I don’t know. I could be speaking out of school, but if I had an opportunity to come up and do it, I wouldn’t do it.”
Pat Perez had previously had an endorsement deal with PXG and Patrick Reed signed a deal with PXG in January 2022. Both players are now with the LIV Golf League and neither appears on the PXG website. The company’s current staff is headlined by U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, along with Joel Dahmen, who was a star in the Netflix series “Full Swing.”
[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=]