Pro golf faces foreign competition

By David Mullen

In 1993, popular NBA star Charles Barkley was hired for a famous (or infamous) Nike TV commercial where Barkley steadfastly looked into the camera and said, “I am not a role model.”

The intention of the commercial has, after nearly three decades, become misremembered. It was meant as a message on parenting as the commercial continued, “Just because I dunk a basketball, doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.” No doubt that the primary purpose of the ad was to sell more Nike products. But Barkley never shirked his responsibility for uttering, “I am not a role model.” 

The controversy surrounding the advertisement was not about a pro athlete — albeit a brand spokesperson — taking a stand off the basketball court. It was Barkley telling the world that an athlete of his stature should not be looked up to just because of his remarkable skills. He may have underestimated the long-term impact of his statement, but he stood by it. Nearly 30 years later, Barkley still speaks his mind and is one of sports’ most popular figures.

In 2020, when NBA superstar LeBron James used his extensive media platform to speak out on social injustice, Fox News opinionator Laura Ingraham used her extensive media platform to tell James to “Shut up and dribble.”

Whether Barkley and Nike or James, Ingraham and Fox News comments were self-serving or designed to cause discussion, discourse or discomfort, one standard remains. Like it or not, professional athletes are role models. It comes with the territory.

On June 9, the Saudi Arabian government-backed LIV Golf Tour launched with a tournament in London and the term “sportswashing” was thrust into the lexicon. 

Sportswashing is not new. By definition, it is “the practice of an individual, group, corporation or government using sport to improve their tarnished reputation, through hosting a sporting event, the purchase or sponsorship of sporting teams or by participation in the sport itself.” Internationally, sportswashing is spinning the narrative away from a poor human rights record, ethnic cleansing practices and government impropriety. 

Think of Adolf Hitler using the 1936 Winter and Summer Olympic Games in Germany or Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China employing the Olympic Games in 2014 and 2022 as a foil. All the while, these countries were engaged in or are being accused of unthinkable atrocities. 

LIV Golf is bankrolled by a reported $600 million investment from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), which earmarked its oil-based profits to improve its image tainted by, among other events, the kidnapping and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who is blamed for ordering the death of Khashoggi, also heads the PIF.  Saudi Arabia lacks a democratic government, worker’s rights, a free press and is known for subjugation of women, the LGBTQ community and the Shiite minority. Bin Salman is using golf to rake a bunker full of inhumane treatment under his reign.

Twenty-time tour champion Greg Norman heads the LIV (pronounced “live”) Tour. Golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, 82, turned down $100 million to be involved with LIV Golf. The tour began in front of small crowds, no television contract (matches are broadcast via the internet) and limited corporate sponsorships. But for the players, it’s money over morals.

Each LIV tournament has a field of 48 players competing in a three-day, 54-hole format with no cuts. The PGA plays 72 holes over four days, and approximately half the field goes home after 36 holes. Get cut, and players receive no slice of the prize pie. In London, last place was worth at least $120,000.

Norman, with the blessing of Bin Salman, has recruited some well-known names in world golf, including Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and American golfers Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. Unlike the PGA Tour, in which players are paid based on performance, all players in the LIV Tour are guaranteed earnings. Johnson, the 15th ranked player in the world ranking, making him high ranked on the LIV Tour, will earn $150 million just for participating. 

Mickelson, a reputed high stakes gambler who lost $40 million during a four-year span, has been a noted player for decades, is a TV draw and became a corporate sports darling. 

Mickelson will earn a reported $200 million for jumping on the LIV bandwagon, bringing back memories of when he jumped for joy in winning the 2004 Masters.

The early focus of the LIV Tour has clearly been on Mickelson. In February, author Alan Shipnuck, who is writing a book called “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” first reported that Mickelson had been approached by the startup league. 

“They’re scary mother [expletive] to get involved with,” Shipnuck reported that Mickelson said. “We know they killed Khashoggi 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.” 

Mickelson said his opinons were “off the record.” Rory McIlroy, who won the Canadian Open on June 13, said the comments were, “naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.” Sponsors like Callaway Golf, KPMG and Amstel Light dropped Michelson for choosing money over morals.

PGA Tour players that joined the LIV Tour were immediately suspended. Mickelson called the PGA Tour a “dictatorship.” How ironic that Mickelson would be more comfortable on the Saudi-funded LIV Tour than the PGA Tour. Irony also reached Shipnuck, when he was forcibly removed from a LIV pre-tournament press conference. Did I mention free press?

“I don’t condone human rights violations,” said Mickelson, overstating the obvious with his patented Cheshire cat grin. “I don’t know how I can be any more clear … I love this game of golf. I’ve seen the good that it’s done, and I see the opportunity for LIV Golf to do a lot of good for the game throughout the world, and I’m excited to be part of this opportunity.” Putting over principles.

Whether sportswashing really works is the subject of debate. Hard to say that Russia or China improved their images by hosting recent Olympic Games. 

The China Olympics earned the nickname “Genocide Games.” That moniker didn’t successfully spin the narrative. 

No matter the lasting impact, Barkley and James let their feelings be known, backed it up and have benefited. James just became the first billionaire professional athlete. Barkley is a TV sensation and is loved by millions. But Barkley was right. 

Phil Mickelson is no role model. He has chosen to “Shut up and putt” and chosen money over morals.