Tag: Saudi International

Lynch: The Saudis aren’t paying players for silence. We must listen for the lies.

We are entering a week in which golf fans will be inundated with obvious lies from the Saudi International.

“Obvious lies serve a purpose for an administration,” wrote Garry Kasparov, the chess great and courageous critic of Vladimir Putin. “They watch who challenges them and who loyally repeats them. The people must watch, too.”

We are entering a week in which golf fans will be inundated with obvious lies from the Saudi International, peddled by players exhibiting all the sincerity of $20 hustlers trying to say it like they mean it.

“I’m trying to grow the game.”

“They are trying to change here.”

“I’m just here to play golf.”

“I want to compete against the best.”

“I’m not a politician.”

The ashamed might at least look uneasy in their prevarications. The shameless will be all thumbs-up and duplicitous grins. And everyone will depart the Kingdom richer, but only in cash terms. This effort to launder the Saudi regime’s grotesque reputation will soil that of many others.

It promises to be a discordant week in golf as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is held opposite the Bonesaw Invitational. On one side we have an iconic venue, a longtime sponsor whose investment in the sport runs to tens of millions of dollars annually and a worthy charitable beneficiary. Eight thousand miles to the east, there is only money—unless you think bailing certain golfers out of their financial misadventures constitutes charity.

Sure, it’s all commerce, but one tournament comes with a side of mercy. The other is simply mercenary.

Elite golfers are free to earn money however they wish, but they aren’t exempt from criticism for the manner in which they do so. Participating in the Saudi International—or flirting with the regime’s proposed Super Golf League circuit—is to be an accessory to blatant sportswashing, willingly enlisted in a mendacious effort to distract from its ongoing human rights abuses and war crimes.

Players will sing the same libretto—“We’re not politicians! We’re just doing our job!”—but it’s a bogus deflection. This is an instance where just doing their jobs is a political act. Politics underwrites the money being thrown at them to perform. That’s the essence of sportswashing.

Most PGA Tour members who sought permission to compete in Saudi Arabia will earn a number by making up the numbers. Jason Dufner, Harold Varner III and Jhonny Vegas will be sent home with a check and a cursory nod of thanks, whereas stars like Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau will be aggressively courted as potential assets in a breakaway Super League. Regardless of the level of interest each man holds for the Saudis, being present is an opportunity to be accounted for. Lewis Hamilton spoke out against regime abuses during the penultimate race of the Formula One season in Jeddah last December. Who will be Hamilton this week?

Bueller? …. Bueller? …

This week begs for moral clarity, not obfuscation and obsequiousness. Greg Norman will supply plenty of the latter as a propagandist for the Crown Prince’s regime. Slender are the chances of a principled protest from any golfer who has chosen to show up for the money. A gloomy few days lie ahead for golf.

Whatever obvious lies players spout to please the Crown Prince will surely find shelter behind the tu quoque tactics used by wankers of ‘whataboutism’, those clods who insist that criticism of the Saudi event is invalid unless it also specifies the evils of China, abuses in the Emirates, grievances about American and European foreign policy and arms sales, and condemnations of sweatshop-operating corporate sponsors, among other cul-de-sacs.

The implicit decree—that we cannot legitimately discuss one issue unless we simultaneously discuss every issue—is so intellectually trite as to barely be worth dismissing. Such shading benefits only the Saudis and those in their pay.

There will come a day when the Saudis either announce signings for a Super League or dissolve their ambitions as one might a dissident journalist in a faraway consulate. The moment of reckoning for the players—on their character, on their willingness to excuse atrocities so long as the check clears—is already at hand. They just won’t admit as much.

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Lynch: Saudi-bound golfers brush off politics, but stain of being stooges will be harder to shake

‘Not a politician’ is now the deflection of choice among pro golfers heading to the Saudi International.

Golf has long been burdened with clichés that are more heavily trafficked than the 405 at rush hour, and yet the sport’s lingua franca manages to grow still more insipid and hollow by the day.

To our catalog of greatest hits—‘One shot at a time,’ ‘Take dead aim,’ and ‘Growing the game’—we can now add ‘Not a politician,’ the deflection of choice among professional golfers competing at next month’s Saudi International.

“So, not a politician, first off,” Bryson DeChambeau tersely announced a few days ago in a media Zoom call promoting the event. “I’m a golfer, first and foremost, and I want to play where the best golfers in the world are going to play. And that is the end of the story for me.”

In a separate call, Shane Lowry echoed his fellow major champion.

“Obviously there’s no hiding from the people writing about this tournament or what they’re saying about us going to play, but at the end of the day for me, I’m not a politician, I’m a professional golfer,” he said. “I earn a living for myself and my family and try and take care of those, and this is just a part of that, and I need to go there. I’m not a politician, I’ll let everyone else take care of that, and I’ll go and do my job.”

Lowry is one of the more affable guys on tour. DeChambeau is, well, not. One of them at least made explicit why he’s going to King Abdullah Economic City: money. The other veils his motive with noble-sounding tripe about competition. (DeChambeau’s eagerness to pimp for the Crown Prince in a promotional call must have been edifying for Rocket Mortgage, given that he refused all media obligations in a snit last summer, despite being the sponsor’s defending champion and paid endorser.) That both men trotted out the same talking point suggests it will be a repetitive refrain as players try to disassociate themselves from the actions of the Saudi regime while still cashing its checks.

It will be an excruciating dance for them. And it deserves to be.

In my experience, most professional golfers pay little attention to geopolitical issues in the world. Ask their opinion on the Uyghurs and they’ll likely tell you they prefer FootJoys. Even the few with broader awareness will avoid political topics for fear of unlocking a Pandora’s Box of questions every time they compete in a jurisdiction where the government stands accused of objectionable conduct, from China to Texas. So be it.

Saudi International 2020
A Saudi woman wearing Islamic “Niqab” raises a “Quiet Please” sign at the 2020 Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Amr Nabil/Associated Press)

But pleading ignorance—willful or feigned—is a sophistic defense when it comes to the Saudis. There can’t be a player left on any tour who is unaware of the regime’s effort to hijack professional golf via the Super League concept, or of the attendant criticisms about sportswashing its human rights abuses. And it’s sportswashing that makes the Saudi International an issue for golfers, not politicians, regardless of what Messrs. DeChambeau and Lowry say.

We know why golfers want to be in Saudi Arabia—appearance fees—but its important to not lose sight of why the government wants them there. Lowry is correct in saying he’s just going to do his job. That’s exactly the point. Mohammed bin Salman is not paying Lucas Herbert to grow the game or Jason Dufner to be a dinner-table raconteur. He is paying them to help present a normalized image of his Saudi Arabia as a place where run-of-the-mill golf events happen, just like any place else. Not every player will take part in publicity shoots or be as grovelingly obsequious as the Crown Prince’s finger puppet, Greg Norman, but they are still being used as stooges for sportswashing. No amount of artifice can disguise that.

Competing at the Saudi International can’t seriously be construed as professional golfers endorsing the regime or its practices, but it lays bare a reality that is no less dispiriting for being commonplace: that so many elite players can’t or won’t see beyond the perimeter of their wallets, that they consciously choose to ignore what they will contribute to an odious regime simply by doing their job. It was the case back when the game’s best turned a blind eye to apartheid so they could play for riches in South Africa, and it’s the case today. Sure, they just want to play golf. And Leni Riefenstahl just wanted to make movies.

Truth be told, golfers are not politicians. Politicians at least pretend to have principles.

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After nearly quitting, Bryson DeChambeau enthusiastically tackling 2022 that includes start in controversial Saudi International

“This once great game that was giving me so much just turned quite a bit on me.”

As quick as one of his most powerful swings, Bryson DeChambeau brushed aside a question concerning controversy surrounding the upcoming Saudi International.

“So, not a politician, first off,” he said Thursday in a video conference with the media ahead of next month’s tournament in the Middle East. “I’m a golfer, first and foremost, and I want to play where the best golfers in the world are going to play. And that is the end of the story for me.”

It was the only time DeChambeau was curt and agitated during a 30-minute Zoom call with the media ahead of the Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

The tournament is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and has come under harsh criticism by many who think the event and others empowered by Saudis is an attempt to cover up human rights abuses. A piece in the Washington Post said players taking millions in appearance fees are accepting blood money.

The tournament is no longer associated with the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour; it is now a part Asian Tour. Saudi Arabia made a $200 million investment in the tour last year.

Instead of addressing the controversy at length, DeChambeau, 28, who finished in a tie for 18th in 2021 and in a tie for sixth in 2019 in his two previous starts in the Saudi International, enthusiastically spoke to a host of other topics. The world No. 8 and 2020 U.S. champion confirmed he recently became a partial owner of the Professional Long Drivers Association; he will continue to be a major presence on social media to tell his story and offer up tips on how to play the game; he is confident he will get longer on the golf course; and he spoke to his renewed love for the game. He even went deep on why he’s sporting a golf cap these days instead of a tam o’shanter.

“I feel like I’m turning a bit of a page in my life, in my chapter and my book,” he said. “As I’ve always said, I’m always evolving and changing and growing and adapting. It’s just another one of those things. I don’t know if it will be a thing to stay or it pops up randomly. It’s going to be one that is just going to keep you guys on edge, I guess. It just depends on what I feel like and what I’m comfortable with that week.”

DeChambeau’s 2021 was marked by controversy – his social media spat with Brooks Koepka, disparaging his equipment, his questionable stance toward not taking the COVID-19 vaccine, his refusal to speak to the print media, and contemplating a possible departure from the game.

But it also had many highlights, among them his eighth PGA Tour title coming in the Arnold Palmer Invitational; a thrilling playoff loss to Patrick Cantlay in the BMW Championship and finishing third in the Players Championship; a stunning run en route to finishing seventh in the Professional Long Drivers Association World Championships; and his play in the Ryder Cup.

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Yet DeChambeau thought about walking away from the game. He said the lowlight of 2021 came when he tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to miss the Olympics. After quarantining, he returned at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. He explained his reasoning for not taking the vaccine, which was roundly chastised – and he stopped speaking to the print media.

“This once great game that was giving me so much just turned quite a bit on me,” DeChambeau said about that time. “I feel like it’s not worth it anymore. As time has gone on, that has changed. I have grown. I have learned the place that I’m in.

“Is it difficult and frustrating sometimes still? Absolutely, just like anything. But my whole goal is I want to inspire and show off a little bit when I’m able to hit it really far and really straight one day and then chip it and putt it well. That’s my favorite thing to do, and I want to continue to do that.

“That’s what kept me moving in the right way.”

DeChambeau is resting this week to make sure the soreness in his left wrist that forced him to withdraw from this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii is completely gone. DeChambeau, who finished in a tie for 25th in the field of 38 in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui last week, said he will play the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego in two weeks before heading to Saudi Arabia.

Here are other topics DeChambeau addressed, among others.

Sony Open: In-depth preview | Check the yardage

Shane Lowry defends decision to play controversial Saudi International: ‘I’m not a politician’

“I think for me as a golfer, I’m not a politician, I’ll let everyone else take care of that, and I’ll go and do my job.”

Everyone has an opinion on the upcoming Saudi International. Shane Lowry has made his stance clear: he’s a golfer, not a politician.

Speaking with media ahead of the Feb. 3-6 event at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City – which has been heavily criticized since its debut in 2019 as a way for the Saudi Arabian government to “sportswash” its controversial human rights record – the 2019 Open champion laid out his reasons for playing the tournament, from his past experiences to the world ranking points up for grabs.

“Look, obviously there’s no hiding from the people writing about this tournament or what they’re saying about us going to play, but at the end of the day for me, I’m not a politician, I’m a professional golfer,” said Lowry. “The top players are looked after going there, and that’s great, but top players have got looked after all over the world over the last number of years, whether it be whatever country they go to.

“But I’m happy to go there. I’m happy to earn my living going there and going and playing good golf and hopefully win a tournament,” he continued. “I think for me as a golfer, I’m not a politician, I’ll let everyone else take care of that, and I’ll go and do my job.”

OPINION: Let golf’s catch-all cliché ‘grow the game’ die of shame at the Saudi International

Last week the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, was announced as the tournament’s new title sponsor. The fund’s chairman is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of Saudi Arabia’s king. In its first year as part of the Asian Tour schedule, the 2022 Saudi International features the strongest field in the history of the tour. In 2021 the Saudis made a $100 million investment in the Asian Tour.

Last month Golfweek reported that the PGA Tour had granted permission for 30 of its members to play the Saudi International, but it came with a catch:

Any player who has competed in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am event at least once in the past five years must commit to play at least once in the next two years (2023 and 2024). Players who have not competed at Pebble Beach in the last five years will need to do so twice in the three years until 2025. A source familiar with the names of the 30 players who applied for waivers told Golfweek that 19 of them will have to commit to one appearance at the AT&T, while the other 11 will be required to play twice.

“I would have been very disappointed if I didn’t get the release,” added Lowry. “I wasn’t surprised that we all did. I think it was something that they had to do. For years, as long as I’ve been not even playing golf but watching golf, players, top world-class players have been going around playing on the Asian Tour and doing stuff like that, so I don’t think this is any different.”

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Public Investment Fund named new title sponsor of controversial Saudi International, which features four of world’s top 15 players

A few more big names were added to the field for next month’s event.

The controversial Saudi International has a new title sponsor and an even stronger field set to compete next month.

On Monday the Public Investment Fund, which is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, was announced as the new title sponsor of the event Feb. 3-6 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

A few more names were added to the field, including Patrick Reed – who has played in each Saudi International since its debut in 2019 – and last year’s runner-up, Tony Finau. Matthew Wolff, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Victor Perez will make their debuts.

The Saudi International is the same week as the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California. That long-running event at one of the best sites on Tour each year will see a diminished field because so many players committed to play in Saudi Arabia.

Previously announced players for the Saudi International include 2021 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson, two-time Saudi International champion Dustin Johnson, 2020 champion Graeme McDowell as well as Abraham Ancer, Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Na, Jason Kokrak, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton, Adri Arnaus, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Paul Casey, Jason Dufner, Shane Lowry, Joaquin Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Harold Varner III, Jhonattan Vegas and Bubba Watson.

“We have a truly world-class international field assembling for the 2022 edition of the Saudi International. The mix of the world’s best players from across the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific will make this year our most anticipated yet,” said Majed Al-Sorour, CEO and Deputy Chairman of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation via a release. “Bringing together strong fields for our international men’s and women’s events has shown to play a vital role in driving participation and engagement in the sport in Saudi Arabia.

“The commitment from our long-term partners at the PIF to take the title position on the event has provided further recognition that the event has reached a level of strategic importance for Saudi Arabia, impacting our schools and grassroots programs as well as our rapidly improving national teams as part of the long journey we’re on in Saudi Arabia.”

More from the release: “A particular focus of PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers will be enhancing the event’s current work on sustainability, innovation, women and youth. A key goal will be to further accelerate the transformation of the Saudi International and be a leading example for golf events globally.”

Since the inaugural Saudi International in 2019, the tournament has been widely criticized as part of the Saudi government’s effort to “sportswash” its human rights abuses, same with LIV Golf Investments, the new golf venture led by Greg Norman that’s also backed by the PIF. The fund’s chairman is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of Saudi Arabia’s king.

In its first year as part of the Asian Tour schedule, the 2022 Saudi International features the strongest field in the history of the tour.  In 2021 the Saudis made a $100 million investment in the Asian Tour.

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Your 2021 picks: Our top 10 PGA Tour stories (No. 1 came from a stunning turn of events)

Check out the top 10 PGA Tour stories of the year.

While you’re resting and celebrating (we hope!), we’re closing the books on a year that will leave a lasting impression.

And as part of taking our year-end inventory, we’ve been looking through the numbers and tallying up which stories drew your attention — and sharing the findings with you.

For the final days of 2021, we’re offering up a snapshot of the top 10 stories from each of Golfweek’s most popular sections, including travel, the PGA and LPGA tours, instruction and amateur golf. Here’s what we’ve already counted down.

Here’s a look at the top 10 PGA Tour stories, as clicked on by you (we should note, this list doesn’t include photo galleries or money lists):

Twilight 9 podcast: After watching the PNC Championship, do you think Tiger Woods will win on the PGA Tour again?

Team Woods, despite falling short on the leaderboard, put on a show in Orlando.

This week on the show, it’s once again all about Tiger Woods. Well, and Charlie. Team Woods was electric at the PNC Championship over the weekend, at one point making 11 straight birdies on Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. They would finish second behind Team Daly by two shots, but there’s a lot to like about what we saw from Tiger in Orlando.

Will he win again? FTW’s Andy Nesbitt and I are on different sides of the conversation.

I have a new swing crush: Nelly Korda. Watching her swing a golf club over the weekend was incredible. And the video of her asking Tiger Woods for a picture was a top-3 moment from the weekend.

The PGA Tour announced it is allowing players to participate in the Saudi International in February. Andy and I discuss what that means for the world of golf.

Download this week’s episode here: Apple | Spotify

Follow the guys on Twitter: Riley | Andy

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PGA Tour clears players to compete in controversial Saudi event, but with conditions

The PGA Tour has granted permission for 30 of its members to play the Saudi International, Golfweek has learned.

The PGA Tour has granted permission for 30 of its members—including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau—to play the controversial Saudi International, Golfweek has learned.

But the okay comes with strings attached.

The decision was revealed in a memo sent Monday afternoon to the Tour’s entire membership, a copy of which was obtained by Golfweek. Players who sought permission to compete in Saudi Arabia received additional memos outlining the specific conditions attached to their releases for the event, which will be staged opposite the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, February 3-6, 2022. Tour members are required to obtain a waiver to compete in conflicting events.

A PGA Tour spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memos but declined to identify the 30 players who are being granted releases. Last month, the Saudi International released a list of commitments that included Mickelson, DeChambeau and Johnson, the defending champion. It also named Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson, among others.

The Saudi International is the latest front in a war between the PGA Tour and the Saudis, who have been trying to launch the rival Super Golf League by offering golf’s biggest stars huge guaranteed pay days. The Super League concept has been widely criticized as an effort by the Saudi regime to ‘sportswash’ its human rights abuses. The PGA Tour had indicated in July that it would deny permission for members to play in the tournament.

The memo sent to the Tour’s membership was signed by Tyler Dennis, the chief of operations. It reiterates the rules governing conflicting event releases as stated in the official PGA Tour Player Handbook. Those guidelines allow Commissioner Jay Monahan to grant or deny waivers based on the best interests of the Tour, and to attach conditions to waivers. The memo specifies the conditions that will apply to members who compete in Saudi Arabia.

Any player who has competed in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am event at least once in the past five years must commit to play at least once in the next two years (2023 and 2024). Players who have not competed at Pebble Beach in the last five years will need to do so twice in the three years until 2025. A source familiar with the names of the 30 players who applied for waivers told Golfweek that 19 of them will have to commit to one appearance at the AT&T, while the other 11 will be required to play twice.

Golfweek reached out to Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief tournaments and competitions officer, for comment on the decision. “While we certainly have grounds under Tour regulations created by and for the players to deny conflicting event releases, we have decided in this instance to allow a group of Tour players the opportunity to play in a single sanctioned tournament outside North America on a recognized Tour, with conditions attached that will contribute to the success of AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in future years,” Pazder replied.

Players who do not meet the obligations attached to their waivers would be subject to disciplinary action.

The memo emailed to Tour members late Monday afternoon also highlighted a requirement that applications for conflicting event releases must be submitted at least 45 days before the first round of the tournament in question. The Saudi International begins February 3—exactly 45 days from the date of the memo.

The 30 releases requested for the 2022 Saudi International marks a sharp increase on the 23 sought in 2021, and suggests a deliberate Saudi strategy of inviting so many players that the PGA Tour would be forced to deny the waivers in order to protect the quality of the field at the AT&T tournament. Had permission been refused, the Saudis could claim the PGA Tour was not acting in the best interests of members by denying them earning opportunities, further stoking discontent among the top players it has been attempting to recruit to the Super Golf League.

One source familiar with the situation told Golfweek that lower-profile players invited to compete in King Abdullah Economic City have been offered appearance fees of around $400,000, with mid-tier players receiving between $500,000 and $750,000. High-profile stars get seven-figure offers. Chartered private aircraft to and from Saudi Arabia is also provided.

Not every player who applied for a conflicting event release will necessarily compete in Saudi Arabia. It is likely that an updated list of competitors will be released by the Asian Tour, which sanctions the event, and in which the Saudi government has invested $200 million.

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Lynch: Let golf’s catch-all cliché—’grow the game’—die of shame at the Saudi International

The phrase is a one-size-fits-all banality to justify unconscionable money-grubbing.

As a working rule, press conferences by PGA Tour players are seldom fertile ground for philosophical treatises, but even against that beggarly standard Bubba Watson managed to produce a veritable bingo card of bullshit in which no box went unchecked.

Watson was speaking at the QBE Shootout, the title of which is now off-brand since its host, Greg Norman, went to work for a regime that prefers bonesaws to bullets (the “QBE Dismemberment” would be a tough hospitality sell). The two-time Masters champion—Watson, obviously, not Norman—was addressing his intent to compete at February’s Saudi International. More out of credulousness than chicanery, I suspect, Bubba delivered as upbeat and varied an explanation as seems possible from a man abetting the normalization of a merciless regime.

He cited his love of travel (a revelation to those who recall his previously voiced disinterest in France and the British Isles), the Saudi financing for women’s golf, helping tourism in the region, the beautiful beaches, a desire to see God’s (his, not theirs) creation and charity.

“They’re trying to change,” he said earnestly of his hosts. It was, he added, all about “trying to grow the game.”

More: Lefty, Bryson highlight loaded field for 2022 Saudi International

There must have been a time—back when motives were pure and goals were ambitious—that the phrase “grow the game” communicated sincerity and credibility. Perhaps there are instances where that’s still the case, but they are scarce. “Grow the game” has become a one-size-fits-all banality that is destitute of genuine meaning, used instead to promote product and, increasingly, to justify unconscionable money-grubbing.

Consider just a few of the causes in service of which “grow the game” has been marshaled: sports gambling, technology, the Olympics, equipment advances, shorter courses, longer drives, quirkier formats, snazzier apparel, made-for-TV tedium, social-media sniping, diversity and inclusion. From the First Tee to Topgolf to Top Tracer, it is the exhausted slogan of first resort.

When people says “grow the game,” they usually mean grow revenue, and they always mean their own revenue. That context is important. It guarantees that anyone who dismisses “grow the game” as marketing guff will be tut-tutted for negativity, and it persuades others to dish the same dung in case one day it’s their revenue that demands this gossamer-thin veil of nobility.

What has been a steady stream of insincerity about growing golf will surge into a tsunami when Watson and his peers pitch up in King Abdullah Economic City for the Saudi International, pending permission from the PGA Tour. It promises to be a week when professional golfers eagerly slobber about “growing the game” but prevaricate when asked about the human rights abuses of their benefactors. Ever the pioneer, Norman has been busy forging a path for those who will follow.

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After recently equating the historical legacy of racism in America with the atrocities currently being committed by his employer, the Great White Pilot Fish tackled gender issues in comments to Golf Digest.

“Women’s rights issues—the women there now, I’ve been so impressed,” he said. “You walk into a restaurant and there are women. They’re not wearing burkas.”

Norman went on to reject criticism of the Saudi government by anyone who has not been there to see things for themselves, an evidentiary requirement that one presumes would have silenced contemporary critics of Nazi genocide because they hadn’t personally inspected Auschwitz. He added that he himself has been going to Saudi Arabia on truth-finding missions for three years, since right around the time the regime hired him to design a golf course.

The extent to which Norman has been willing to abase himself is disappointing, but it’s unsurprising that his every utterance in defense of his disgrace is littered with the painfully familiar platitude. “I always wanted to grow the game of golf on a global basis. Always, always,” he said.

This association alone ought to be sufficient for self-respecting people to forswear its usage. If an aspirational catch-all is required, try “Better the game,” a more individual and granular goal, one not yet compromised by gasbags and geopolitics. One way to start bettering this game: don’t enlist it in an odious campaign to rehabilitate the reputation of an oppressive government.

If the Saudi International is to contribute one welcome change in service of golf, let it be the week when the wretched cliché about “growing the game” finally dies, albeit of shame.

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Lynch: PGA Tour should concede waivers battle for good of bigger war—against a Saudi takeover

Why hand the Saudis a wedge to further divide PGA Tour members?

The PGA Tour has a month to decide whether to remain focused on a game of cat and mouse it is positioned to win, or instead be suckered into a game of chicken it would almost certainly lose.

Until January 4, to be exact—30 days out from the first round of the Saudi International, by which point it must decide whether to grant releases to members who want to compete in the Kingdom.

The Saudis announced a lengthy list of committed players, including Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele, none of whom yet have permission from Ponte Vedra. Competing without a waiver could trigger disciplinary action, likely limited to a fine—a mere droplet in the bucket of blood money they could haul home while flogging themselves with backslaps for “growing the game.”

The players committed to February’s tournament shouldn’t be confused with the roster the Saudis want to recruit for their Super Golf League, which is attempting to lure stars with guaranteed money, reported at upwards of $30 million for some. The riches for guys like Jason Dufner and Harold Varner III will be limited to appearance fees at the International, not invitations to a future breakaway circuit for the elite. But the PGA Tour has a lot more Dufners and Varners than Mickelsons and DeChambeaus, which is why the Saudis are using the bait of appearance fees that are seldom lavished on the lower ranks. By greasing up enough guys eager to squeeze their snouts into the trough, the Saudis have forced commissioner Jay Monahan to make a problematic decision.

Denying some or all of the waiver requests will protect one of Monahan’s most important partners in AT&T, whose investment in golf as title sponsor of two Tour events, one of which is opposite the Saudi International, and at the Masters was pegged by one industry executive at $40 million or so. But denials would also immediately have the Saudi’s flaxen-haired lackey, Greg Norman, claiming that the Tour is not representing players’ best interests and is denying them lucrative opportunities.

The shark-turned-pilotfish has already been polishing that saw.

“I want to share my undivided support and endorsement for the stance taken in announcing your participation in the Saudi International,” he wrote to the players who publicly committed. “You are standing up for your rights, as professional athletes, and for what is right and best for the global development of the sport of golf.”

Consider the intellectual and moral bankruptcy required to commend golfers for standing up for their rights on behalf of a repressive government that abuses rights as a matter of policy.

It’s a stout task to keep pace with Norman’s dizzying agitprop these days as he beclowns himself for the Crown Prince. In an interview with the Financial Times, he equated racism in the U.S. with the abuses currently perpetrated by his employer, saying every country “has done horrendous things in the past.” Norman’s definition of “past” will come as news to civilians desperately trying to survive Saudi war crimes in Yemen. But who better to personify the ‘emperor has no clothes’ theory than Greg Norman?

The reality is that the PGA Tour is hostage to its own precedent.

It granted waivers when the Saudi International was sanctioned by the outfit formerly known as the European Tour. The Euros booted the event from its schedule after forging a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour to fend off the Super Golf League. Had the tournament remained unsanctioned—as it was when the PGA Tour indicated it would deny releases for the ’22 edition—Monahan would have no predicament. But the Saudis bought the imprimatur of the Asian Tour, to which the PGA Tour has also previously granted its members hall passes.

“I think the Tour should grant releases,” Rory McIlroy said. “I do see reasons why they wouldn’t grant releases, but I think if they’re trying to do what’s best for their members, and their members are going to a place other than the PGA Tour and being able to earn that money, I mean, we’re independent contractors, and I feel like we should be able to do that.”

McIlroy, who has repeatedly declined multi-million dollar offers to play the Saudi International, is chairman of the Tour’s Players Advisory Council and said most players share his view. Which is why Monahan ought to concede this battle over one tournament for the sake of the broader war against Saudi Arabia’s hostile takeover of professional golf.

It’s a war Tiger Woods enlisted for Tuesday when he dismissed the Super Golf League concept with barely disguised contempt. “I’m supporting the PGA Tour. That’s where my legacy is,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have won 82 events on this tour and 15 major championships. So I have allegiance to the PGA Tour.”

Woods was reminding his colleagues—he has no peers—that he’s the standard against which they are measured. While he pitched up at many money-grab tournaments in his career, too, Woods doesn’t conflate serious competition with synthetic entertainment, a distinction intentionally blurred by Saudi suck-ups who promote the twaddle that their goal is to elevate the sport rather than to normalize the regime’s image.

The looming waivers fight, like the flirtation with the Super Golf League, is a leverage play by stars eager to extract more revenue and concessions from the PGA Tour. They are well on their way to getting the money—bigger purses, guaranteed cash events, greater bonuses—and a recalibration of power seems inevitable too. The Tour is a member-led organization, but many of its top performers think it is too oriented to protecting journeymen at their expense.

While issuing releases to the Saudi International would stick in Monahan’s craw, it won’t represent a change from previous policy. So why hand the Saudis a wedge to further divide his members? Granting permission for players to flaunt their lack of a moral compass once a year is a price Monahan has to pay to win the fight that really matters.

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