{"id":4624,"date":"2023-06-08T22:51:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T20:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/?p=4624"},"modified":"2023-06-08T22:51:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T20:51:07","slug":"how-saudi-arabia-came-to-be-at-the-centre-of-a-global-golf-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/how-saudi-arabia-came-to-be-at-the-centre-of-a-global-golf-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"How Saudi Arabia came to be at the centre of a global golf\u00a0merger"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Signs greet the LIV Golf Fans at the the LIV Golf Tournament held at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster,NJ., July 2022. (Shutterstock\/L.E.MORMILE)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Professional golf \u2013 and increasingly world sport \u2013 is caught in a sand trap. Not the familiar hazard between fairway and green, but the Middle Eastern desert producing enormous quantities of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

The resulting riches are being diverted into sport, disrupting its traditional Western dominance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest example is the dramatic announcement<\/a> that LIV Golf, the rebel circuit led by retired Australian golfer Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund, has merged with the (US) PGA and (European) DP World Tours after two years of trench warfare.<\/p>\n

While today\u2019s big story is LIV Golf, Saudi Arabia\u2019s involvement in sport will generate many more money-driven, politics-heavy headlines.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the \u2018party hole\u2019<\/h3>\n

There are echoes here of Kerry Packer\u2019s World Series Cricket<\/a> and Rupert Murdoch\u2019s Super (Rugby) League<\/a>. An aggressive, well-funded competitor takes on the sport establishment, promising to shake up a sclerotic game, bringing in new money and younger fans with lashings of razzmatazz.<\/p>\n

LIV Golf<\/a> offers shorter stroke play contests and a competitive team format. This April, Australia got a taste of it in Adelaide<\/a>. Large, raucous crowds turned up, witnessing innovations like a \u201cparty hole\u201d complete with terrace, bars and a DJ.<\/p>\n

LIV lured leading golfers such as Australia\u2019s Cameron Smith<\/a> with enormous contracts, in his case worth A$140 million (US$93.4 million). In response<\/a>, the main tours banned LIV-signed golfers from most of their tournaments. Inevitably, it ended up in the courts, with LIV suing the PGA Tour for restrictive practices, and the PGA countersuing for inducement to break contracts.<\/p>\n

Peace suddenly broke out this week via a joint news release announcing<\/a> the tours and LIV Golf would morph into a collectively owned, for-profit entity. This came as a shock<\/a> to tour golfers in an ostensibly player-run organisation, who found out via Twitter.<\/p>\n

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I love finding out morning news on Twitter<\/p>\n

— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) June 6, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n