LIV Tour
There's a new golf tour in the world. The LIV tour held their first of 8 events in London on June 9-11, 2022. Let the Hypocrisy begin! Actually it already started awhile ago. And it just keeps getting better.
For those of you who do not know, LIV stands for the roman numeral 54 which represents a great golf score on a par 72 golf course. Living golf legend Greg Norman is fronting the tour funded by the country of Saudi Arabia. To be precise, it is being bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. And yes, they have a lot of money. Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson (both top US golfers) were reportedly paid over 100 million each just to participate on the tour. The winner of the London event took home 4 million dollars.
In an interview with Firepit Collective's Alan Shipnuck, Mickelson is quoted as calling the Saudi's "scary motherf--kers".
The key words here are Saudi Arabia. I realize that politically we need to be friendly with that country on the surface. But as sports figures I have to wonder why so many are willing to take their money? At what point is it impossible to look yourself in the mirror? The human rights violations are numerous. Recently, on March 12, 2022, 81 men were executed in Saudi Arabia. Many of them belonged to the Shia Muslim minority in Saudi Arabia. Or the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Kashoggi.
When asked about these executions Greg Norman had this response;
"I don't look back. I don't look into the politics of things. I'm not going to get into the quagmire of whatever else happens in someone else's world. I heard about it and just kept moving on."
This is a typical response from most citizens of the world. This is why these things still occur in our world on a regular basis. Every day we are faced with countless examples of this. We turn a blind eye to these injustices while we chase the almighty dollar. At what cost? Should China be allowed to host Olympic Games? Why is the World Cup being held in Qatar? We as a people need to make a stand. We need to support each other.
The PGA tour has responded with their own childish reply. They basically have come out and said that if you participate on the LIV tour then you will face penalties and consequences from our golf tour. I understand that the PGA tour feels the need to protect their product, but maybe the answer lies in creating a better product? Make your players want to stay. Lifetime bans were actually mentioned at one time. Really? I am no fan of the LIV tour but I am a fan of personal freedom. Who is the PGA tour to tell me where and when I can play? Just because they feel threatened by a rival tour.
From the same Shipnuck interview Mickelson is also quoted;
"We know they killed Kashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it. Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA tour operates."
Can any of us think of another way they could accomplish the same thing? How about a strike? A walkout? Instead let us support a regime that reportedly sponsors terrorism and executes its citizens based on whims and ignorance. But they have boatloads of money so it's okay?
Alan Shipnuck also reveals in his upcoming biography on Phil Mickelson that Mickelson lost upwards of 40 million dollars gambling between 2010-14. Does anyone else not recognize this as a potential personal problem? This is an obscene amount. That is more than my entire neighborhood will make in a lifetime. I believe athletes fully deserve all of the money they are able to make in their relatively short careers. But at the cost of who you are? How much money is worth that? Because, you cannot buy it back.
