The invasion of the LIV Golf Invitational, a knockout of the PGA Tour
The creators of the new LIV Golf Invitational league, backed by the capital wealth of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, have put golfers at a crossroads between better economic income and the principles that connected them to the PGA Tour.
June 9-11, 2022, was the starting point for the counterweight era of the PGA Tour, which focused golf on center and landed a top rating. He’ll start with 48 golfers, who don’t have to worry about a cut or not participating if results don’t materialize. Curiosity can be followed to watch the fledgling tournament on its official platform and social networks, with eight events during June, September and October, spread across five different venues in the US and three international locations.
The LIV Invitational crowns an individual winner in both the events and the team competition, which features 12 teams selected by a captain. Three of the top 10 players decided to be a part of the debut, despite the struggle sparked by the 93-year-old’s PGA Tour backlash, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia.
The US Golfers’ Association has officially shown its weakness and warned against the suspension of 17 PGA golfers, who are competing in the inaugural LIV Golf Championship at the Centurion Club in London. Golfers will not be able to compete in future PGA Tour events or the Presidents Cup. However, they will be able to go on to the Big Four: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and the British Open, as they each operate under their own board of directors.
Could the moment resemble the beginning of the era of free agency?
“We’ve been trying to get this off the ground for three decades to be honest with you and I’m very happy with the players, and I’m very happy with the fact that we brought in free agency to play golf,” he explained. Greg Norman, former number one in the world.
In previous conversations, players like Johnson and Mickelson have demonstrated their intent to continue playing the main events of the PGA Tour, while at the same time moving the clincher in their annual compensation and overcoming the moral hurdle of not being exclusive to the legacy PGA.
Even the tournament has a political reading, too. Relations with Saudi Arabia quickly raised red flags, due to its reputation for human rights abuses against its residents. NPR news outlet reports that among critics of the Saudi government is Mickelson himself, who admitted a few years ago that US intelligence had concluded that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia approved the operation that led to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
“It was reckless, I offended people and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words,” Mickelson said in February, after being quoted as to why he was embracing the new chain golf despite the Saudi regime’s known human rights abuses.
But last Monday, Mickelson confirmed he would play in this week’s LIV event, risking angering the PGA. Critics call LIV Golf “sportswashing,” a strategy that countries like China and Russia have used through sport in an effort to reshape their global reputation without changing their stance on human rights.
Saudi Arabia recently hosted motorsports, football, boxing, tennis and wrestling events. In October 2021, the PIF (Public Investment Fund) bought an 80% stake in Newcastle United, one of the English Premier League football clubs. Since 2019, the Saudi Arabia International has hosted an event previously sanctioned by the European Tour and has attracted some of the biggest names in golf, who have paid exorbitant entry fees.
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