LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA | It was beautiful last week at Torrey Pines where the Farmers Insurance Open played out alongside the Pacific Ocean, green grass and blue sky – proof that icy winds don’t blow everywhere this time of year.
Dustin Johnson was there with a new driver that brought back his old confidence. Rickie Fowler was there with his wife, Allison, and their new daughter, Maya. Jon Rahm was there because there’s no place he likes more than Torrey Pines.
Six of the top 10 players in the world rankings were at Torrey Pines and it was enough to raise the semi-rhetorical question: What’s wrong with this picture?
Not much, really.
Yet even as Netflix documentary crews began shooting footage for the streaming service’s inside look at tour life that’s due after this season, it was easy to wonder if the PGA Tour will remain as it is.
That’s because this week more than 8,000 miles away, a collection of the game’s top players are teeing it up in the Saudi International, an Asian Tour event that’s paying big appearance fees and represents what could be a jarring change to the professional game’s status quo.
Johnson, a two-time Saudi winner, is there having made the tournament a regular stop on his schedule. Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and other familiar names are there as well, having secured permission from the tour to play the Asian Tour event rather than the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
All you need to know about today’s top players is how many of them brush off playing Pebble Beach each year because bumpy greens, 5-hour rounds and chilly weather are too bothersome. Put playing Pebble on someone else’s bucket list.
But many of them will accept fat guarantees to play in an event essentially run by a government intent on scrubbing its intolerant image through sports.
For those who want to keep sports and politics separate, it’s a nice idea but it isn’t realistic.
Is this the week when the Greg Norman-led LIV Golf Investments group – the Saudi-funded force behind a rumored new star-driven league – finally drops the names of players rather than C-suite executives?
Or is this another week when the group flashes what access to a $400 billion investment fund can provide, continuing its recruitment of enough big names to make the proposed new league a reality?
Does the fact no player has publicly committed to the new league suggest the overall reluctance to leave the PGA Tour, especially to join a group backed by a government stained by egregious human rights violations?
Or does it mean those who choose the new league will jump in together, using the strength-in-numbers approach to both impress and deflect the blowback that’s sure to follow
At Torrey Pines, the subject of the Saudi-backed proposal seemed on the back burner but that will change this week.
One top player, who firmly rejected a lucrative proposal to join the Norman-led group last fall, said he’s unclear about where things stand and is largely unconcerned. He expects something will happen but he’s not sure when or where or who will be involved.
The subject heats up for a week or so, the player said, then it goes away again.
An executive with close ties to several top players gets the same vibe. He’s listened to the pitch and senses something is coming but he’s not sure of who, what, when or where.
Is it possible the new league will announce itself by rolling out a collection of stars, including some that will surprise their fans by abandoning the PGA Tour?
It’s very possible.
The PGA Tour did the right thing by granting releases to players who wanted to play in Saudi Arabia this week, extracting a commitment from them to play Pebble Beach in the near future. It’s also fair to say the tour appears to have been more reactive than proactive in addressing concerns from players about where they can play and how they might share in more of the tour’s newfound wealth.
Still, the players’ position has been strengthened on tour.
What the PGA Tour can’t do is decide for players whether they want to sign with the Saudis. The guaranteed money being offered to stars is said to be life-changing. It apparently comes with caveats – no more picking and choosing which events they play and being beholden to an organization that expects a sizable return on its investment.
It also comes with the recognition that they’re being paid to help sportswash the image of a country that is considered among the worst offenders of human rights. Saudi Arabia may be changing its culture but change comes slowly and is driven in part by the economic realities of international business that have pushed the change.
Players can say they’re going to Saudi Arabia to “grow the game” but that’s a dodge. Would they be going if they weren’t getting six- and seven-figure appearance fees?
It’s not just about the money. It’s about the morality, too.
Some players see it purely as a career decision. Others rightly see it as more than that.
For those who want to keep sports and politics separate, it’s a nice idea but it isn’t realistic. The NFL and NBA have used their platforms to keep a focus on social justice reform here.
It’s not just about the Saudi initiative. There are genuine concerns about competing in China. The Women’s Tennis Association suspended its tournaments there in the aftermath of the Peng Shuai incident.
The PGA Tour sanctions a World Golf Championship event in China where the government has cracked down on human rights defenders and actively repressed various minorities, according to organizations that monitor such things.
Players who choose the new league – assuming it happens – will get paid well enough to set themselves and their families up for years. Professional golfers see themselves as independent contractors and argue they should be allowed to play where they choose.
It’s the money that has drawn many of them to Saudi Arabia this week and that’s their choice.
But taking the next step will come with a cost that reaches beyond the money.
Top: Dustin Johnson during the 2021 Saudi International
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