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The Observer view on Saudi Arabia’s ‘rebel’ golf tournament | Observer editorial
The brutal regime has got sportswashing down to a tee, and the west is more than willing to be its caddie
Not everyone wants to watch a bunch of fading stars wearing tasteless checked trousers knock a little white object around a golf course. Strange, too, that Saudi Arabia is paying “rebel” players to do so in a breakaway tournament, given its dislike of dissidents of every stripe. Yet in this arena, as in so many others, the public interest has not been considered. That’s par for the course for the anti-democratic regime of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
First reports from last week’s inaugural round of the Saudi-funded LIV golf tournament in Hertfordshire suggest there is a long way to go before it matches the thrills and huge audiences of the US Masters and the Open. But modest beginnings did not prevent the PGA Tour, organiser of the men’s professional game in North America, banning 17 LIV competitors for daring to take the Saudi shilling.
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