You would think that LIV Golf would have a better PR team for their new players.
Maybe they don't need it. The Saudis don't feel the need to have their golfer defend them and want the names to do the talking. It seems like not one of these guys was prepared to answer some of the tough questions we were going to be asked. It's weird that Phil Mickelson wore an Augusta National shirt with the logo drawn over in black marker to the first tournament. These guys are not getting new gear.
Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood refused to answer a reporter who wanted to know if they would play in a tournament hosted by the Russian government or the South African government. "I don't need to answer that question." The first tournament of the government backed league was held yesterday. It was a question they should have been prepared for, but seemed a bit surprised by it. No one could give a prepared answer to the question of where the moral line is drawn.
The hope that the PGA would allow them to play both was dashed yesterday after a statement from the commissioner suspended all present. Gooch told the reporters that he was too stupid to have a justification for his defection because he had received enough money.
This effort is being pushed through by LIV. There was no light touch, no work-around excuses, and no bullshit justification. Phil Mickelson listed all of the horrible things that the Saudi government has done, such as assassinating a journalist.
The question isn't whether the product succeeds commercially, it's whether it succeeds No one needs to like the golf players or think that they are doing the right thing for the government. The product needs to be accepted and normalized so that the golfers who join are no longer asked about it.
We are not close to that point right now and it poses an interesting hypothetical. What is the return on those hundreds of millions of dollars for the Saudi government? Their nation's economy would be helped by an exit out of their reputation for human rights abuses and into the sports world.
They don't need a better PR team to train the defecting golfers because the golf is a means to an end. They are in it for the long haul, and they are bigger than Phil and DeChambeau. Golf tournaments with beloved Americans serving as the face of their efforts are a foot shoved into a doorway that has been propped open for years. The Saudis needed someone to walk with them. If the plan comes to fruition, they will force people to open it.
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