I was talking to a couple from Yemen this morning who had fled the bombings. Their homes had been destroyed and their livelihoods taken from them. They said it filled them with hope that G Mac (the worlds 3,895th best golfer) was now playing for Saudi Arabia and they were confident this would be the first steps towards peace in the region
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If people prioritize money over morals, fair enough. There’s something admirable in the upfront whore who doesn’t disguise the motivation underpinning the act, who offers no mealy-mouthed pretense of noble impulse or greater good, nothing beyond the purely transactional. But the honesty of streetwalkers was not in evidence at the LIV Golf launch.
Players involved with this sportswashing exercise have not distinguished themselves with their wretched prevarications about Saudi abuses. But then, it’s tough to manufacture a good response when asked how it feels to be employed by someone who commissioned a bonesaw murder and who treats human rights as inconveniences daily. None exists. “Every lie is two lies,” the author Robert Brault once wrote, “The lie we tell others and the lie we tell ourselves to justify it.” One wonders what lies McDowell told himself while sitting on that London stage, because we know what lies he told us, and on whose behalf.
McDowell knows why he pursued LIV Golf (cash) and he knows why the Saudis do too (helping present the image of a normalized state and distract from their atrocities). The latter demands that he can’t admit to the former, that he must peddle drivel about growing the game, exciting team formats and being a role model. He is paid to be a patsy, and he’s okay with that. To those of us who have known and liked him, McDowell’s debasement is dispiriting. To others, particularly a peanut gallery of failed pros desperate for a droplet of blood money to reach their parched lips, it is aspirational.
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What sort of clown is this fella at all?
Sure there’s only 47 spots. He’s world number 350. Surely they’ll get rid of him quick enough?
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It would actually be entertaining enough if they set up a competition ridiculously easy for the pros and just make it an absolute birdie fest
They got 54k viewers on YouTube for 2md round of this… I’d say if sky put on a competition for 18 handicappers playing around a championship set up for 100k cash they would get 5x that viewing 
Who’s winning in the big tournament in Saudi Arabia?
It was on in London, Charl Schwartzel took home the €4.75 million pot.
McIlroy going well in Canada
First time Schwartzel has being relevant in 10 years.
He got $1.4 mil for winning his Masters, by comparison
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Golf is reaping what it has sowed
One of the spectators must have asked their friend how many pieces Jamal Khashoggi’s body was cut into before it was dissolved in acid and the friend shouted out the answer.
Mate he made this; it has been long known he’s a wanker.
And yet somehow not the most repulsive Ulster golfer
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Leave Big Darren out of this
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What was spectator turnout and quality of golf like at the Saudi Arabian event? Are the golfing public embracing it?
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