So we’ve finally arrived that that fork in the road — and perhaps we should just follow the directions from the late, great Yogi Berra: “When you come to a fork in the road — take it.”
Yes, controversy is on the menu and Greg Norman and his Saudi amigos are serving it up buffet-style over in a place called King Abdullah Economic City where sits the Royal Greens Golf Club. Both are deep in “The Kingdom” where there is no democracy, just the iron-fist rule of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud — MBS to his best friends (if there are any).
Not only is MBS the Crown Prince, he’s also the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, among other duties.
So Dustin Johnson, the world’s former No. 1 and No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 comes into The Kingdom to lead a field of fee-grabbing golf mercenaries who will compete in the Saudi Invitational — an event no longer sanctioned by the DP World Tour (European Tour) nor the PGA Tour. Nope, this week D.J. and his band of appearance-fee marauders are competing on the Asian Tour, which the Saudis bought for the tidy sum of $300 million. That’s what LIV Golf Investments will be pouring into that Tour, basically so that world ranking points can be offered if there’s ever a Saudi Golf League.
So the Saudis have been under international fire for their incredibly austere record on human rights. But hey, they’re making huge leaps forward — women can now driver automobiles in The Kingdom — imagine that!
There are a lot of ugly claims about what goes on in The Kingdom. Better not speak out against the government (aka The Regime) basically because MBS is the government. The mantra of The Kingdom is something akin to: What’s Good For MBS Is Good For The Kingdom.
The outside world was luke-warm to The Kingdom until 2018 when Saudi dissident, journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was done away with and chopped into little pieces at the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul. That’s when everyone started to take notice that things weren’t all that great inside The Kingdom.
So this week’s Saudi Invitational is one of those sporting events that has come to be known as “sports-washing” — a new term for the Saudis trying their darndest to show the world of sports that they’re really good folks.
Enter the aforementioned Greg Norman, who is working his Great White Behind off in attempt to get this new Saudi Golf League out of the mire and into the limelight.
We wonder out loud if His Sharkness will be on hand there in King Abdullah Economic City for this extraordinary event? What better time than to whisper in a few PGA Tour stars’ ears and talk about loads of “guaranteed money.” Something like — “Hey, if you like your appearance fee this week — you’re gonna LOVE what the new Saudi Golf League will pay you!”
One player who won’t listen to Norman under any circumstances is Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy, who is definitely NOT in the field this week, pointed out recently that some players could earn about a tenth of their annual income just by teeing it up in Saudi, and it was hard to begrudge them that opportunity. His big concern is that bumper appearance fees could make players less hungry for success – and admitted he had suffered from that problem himself early in his career.
“Even when I started to get appearance fees back in 2009 or whatever, I struggled with that, going to tournaments in Korea and Japan feeling like I had already won before I teed it up and had to get over that mental battle of that as well,” McIlroy pointed out. “My own views on the Saudi thing remain unchanged. It’s not something that I would want to do but again, that’s more to do with the fact that I like being my own boss.”
And therein lies the conundrum for Greg and his proposed league. Not really sure free-spirits like these professional golfers would want to be beholding to the Saudis.
Truth be known and there’s not much truth leaking out of The Kingdom these days, but there are more and more whispers that citizens of the country live in fear. You better not show anything at all that falls into the “liberal” category. There are whispers that it is more and more like a “Police State.”
That obviously doesn’t matter to D.J., Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau or Phil Mickelson — just to name a few.
To put it in the words of Greg Norman’s manager, Bart Collins: “You can always use an extra million.”
So play on, fellas. But be careful — MBS has eyes everywhere.
