If I Was…a PGA TOUR Player Thinking About Playing In Saudi Arabia
By Jim McNaney
The Choice Bank Minnesota Golf Show officially kicks off the golf season for us in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” The PGA TOUR’s season officially kicked off last fall but, to most interested observers, the season really doesn’t feel like it starts until the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii or even until Pebble Beach.
Some of the reason the “season” doesn’t garner much attention until after the first of the year is that the time new equipment contracts are signed, manufacturers introduce new products at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, and media outlets like Golf Channel return to live tournament coverage and studio shows. The added attention usually brings better reporting and inevitably a controversy or two.
That’s when I step in.
This year we have a wealth of issues to tackle, which made my decision on what topic to cover in my first column a difficult one.
I suppose I could go with the traditional slow play complaints but since that happens every year, it is not worth the time. The young amateur Luci Li presented an interesting dilemma for the USGA and the folks at the Augusta National Golf Club with her appearance in an advertisement for Apple Watch. Is she still an amateur? I may address that one as the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship grows closer this April.
For the first column of the year I decided to tackle a more serious topic. One with more implications than just pace of play or whether the Green Blazers avoid a slight embracement. I chose to address the European Tour’s inaugural foray into professional golf in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
When the European Tour announced last year that they were adding this new event to their international schedule, reaction was mostly positive. The Euros have done a wonderful job over the years in expanding their reach into all corners of the globe including the Middle East.
I’m sure no one at the European Tour Headquarters could foresee that this event would bring together the worlds of golf, the international media and international politics.
On October 2nd, 2018, New York Times reporter Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. What followed was weeks of international intrigue as to whether or not the Saudi Crown Prince was involved in the killing either explicitly or implicitly.
I am not going to comment on that incident other than what implications it meant for the golf world.
In the wake of the event, numerous American and European players felt it necessary to comment on whether or not they would play in the new European Tour Event in January.
Many American stars of the game, like Bryson Dechambeau, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson chose to play. The number one player in the world, Justin Rose also competed. When asked to comment on why they decided to play, despite the growing evidence that the Crown Prince was involved, most gave very typical answers.
Reasons like they were just golfers and not politicians and thus didn’t want to get into that world were common. Others like Rose justified it as growing the game globally. Given that Saudi Arabia only had just over 200 registered golfers in the country at the time of the event, that seems like a plausible answer.
Not all the world’s best players felt the same way. European star Paul Casey emphatically denied he had committed to play in the event and would not play given the current situation.
Members of the golf media also weighed in. Brandel Chamblee gave an impassioned monologue on Golf Channel in which he accused the powers that be in the golf world of “turning a blind eye” to the murder of a fellow member of the media.
While I am not in the habit of agreeing with Chamblee, as even a part-time member of the media, I emphatically agree.
I have gone on record in this publication blasting Chamblee in the past. Most of the time I agree when Tour players correctly point out that they are independent contractors and they have a right to make decisions based solely on what is best for their situation.
But this incident transcends golf. It transcends sport, in fact. It is contrary to the very idea of a free society. No matter if you think the media is correct or just full of “fake news,” a free and independent press is at the very core of democracy and freedom. Any implication that a totalitarian government would actively kill a member of the media should be enough to make anyone, especially professional golfers whose livelihoods not only depend on sponsors and fans but the media, sprint as far as possible from this situation.
If your argument is the same as that which is made every time the Olympics or World Cup is hosted by a less than ethical government, “sport is a way to unify,” think about all the corruption that has been uncovered in those organizations over the last few decades.
Besides, isn’t golf supposed to be “better than that?” We in this game proudly proclaim at every opportunity that we hold ourselves to higher standards. How much higher do we have to be when we are now reduced to using the same excuses for organizations such as the International Olympic Committee or FIFA?
Sounds rather hypocritical in this instance.
So…if I were a professional golfer, I would stand with those members of the media I work with every day and vehemently refuse to play in this event. I might lose sponsors. I might forego a lucrative appearance fee. I might even make some of my fans in that part of the world mad but, at the end of the day, I would feel like I was upholding that very creed we golfers proclaim to hold dear. I would hold myself to that higher standard.
