The Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga takes pro golfers to task for taking Saudi Arabia’s money at the PIFSIFSIA/Bonesaw/Saudi Golf League group get together next month. Full disclosure: Svrluga’s former colleague at the Post, Jamal Khashoggi, was lured to his death and reportedly sliced into pieces and disposed of by a squad working for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At least in the CIA’s assessment.
Thanks to all who shared this and who wondered if the players will see it—or care—but this about LIV Golf Investments’ Greg Norman and the Public Investment Fund will put Svrluga on the Shark’s bad list:
Here’s Norman, in a November interview with Golf Digest within days of his announcement, immediately trying to distance the PIF from the brutalities inflicted by bin Salman.
“[The PIF is] obviously a commercial operation,” Norman said. “They’re very autonomous. They make investment decisions all around the world. They’ve invested in major U.S. corporations because of commercial reasons. They invested in LIV Golf Investments for a commercial opportunity. They’re passionate about the game of golf.”
He’s a self-serving snake-oil salesman but worse. Don’t trust him.
No TJ Maxx-bound Shark shirts for Barry!
Regarding Khashoggi, Svrluga writes:
Khashoggi was a thoughtful and relentless critic of bin Salman and the Saudi government. In October 2018, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents for his impending marriage. He was murdered and most likely dismembered. His body has never been returned to his family. The CIA concluded that bin Salman ordered the killing.
That murder should hang over the field at the Saudi International. As should the senseless war in Yemen, which the United Nations estimated had caused 377,000 deaths by the end of 2021. As should the hit squad bin Salman allegedly sent to Canada for the attempted murder of a former Saudi intelligence official. As should the fact that, according to Human Rights Watch, prominent women’s rights advocates have remained in Saudi jails since 2018 merely for their advocacy.
The Saudi International is just a bit piece in bin Salman’s attempt to use international sport to help distract from his abhorrent record.
Here’s the bad news for golf: Svrluga’s entirely correct and all of the big players in this know what they’re getting into. But outside of Rory McIlroy, how many can bring themselves to draw a line? And how come the the PGA Tour and European Tour Chief’s can’t condemn Saudi Arabia knowing what we know now?