A Hole in One For Hypocrites

Saudi Arabia — led by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, shown here at a 2022 summit in the city of Jeddah — supported the LIV Golf/PGA merger. But it's hardly a PR win for the kingdom, argues Michael Schaffer. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/ Washington Post posting

A Hole in One — for Hypocrites … Before the announcement of the PGA/Saudi-backed LIV Golf merger, the two sides made soaring moral claims. The PGA pointed to 9/11, the murder of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s abysmal human rights record. LIV painted a picture of a monopoly choking out a plucky younger competitor. But apparently, a whopping load of cash was enough to smother any surely sincere concerns about brutal autocracies “sportswashing” their image or titans maintaining total control over a sport. In this week’s Capital City column, Michael Schaffer reveals the hypocrisy that has closed the 18-month war over the future of golf. “Was it all, for lack of a better term, BS?” Brett Eagleson, who leads 9/11 Justice, told him. “I don’t think they actually gave two shits about Khashoggi or the carpet bombing of Yemen or women or 9/11. As soon as they were offered a deal, they folded like a beach chair.”