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Well, would you look at that. The folks who created a sports empire to distract from their fondness for murder and human rights abuses are turning out to be untrustworthy.
LIV Golf, Project B, women’s tennis — everyone is expendable once they’ve served their purposes for Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing campaign. The Saudis don’t give a damn if they leave athletes scrambling and confused because they already got their money’s worth from dupes like Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
Rich dupes. But dupes, nonetheless.
LIV Golf is still going — for now. But Rahm, Sergio Garcia, DeChambeau and everyone else who torched their reputations in exchange for boatloads of cash have to wonder what “full throttle” really means when their sugar daddy is shifting its priorities.
“The 2026-2030 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF (Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund) moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments, and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and institutional excellence,” the PIF said in an April 15 release.
Translation: We no longer need the Cleeks, Crushers and Range Goats because the world has moved on.
Saudi Arabia also appears uninterested in re-upping as host of the WTA Finals beyond this year while Project B seems more of a theory than an actual women's basketball league. The PIF already sold Al Hilal, one of the most prominent teams in Saudi Arabia’s domestic soccer league.
LIV was never about upending the PGA Tour, as Mickelson said, or being a “force for change and good,” as DeChambeau once laughably claimed. It, just like all the PIF’s other sports ventures, was about getting the world to forget that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s hands are drenched in blood.
According to declassified U.S. intelligence documents, later contradicted by President Donald Trump, bin Salman ordered the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and fierce regime critic. He’s blessed the expansion of the death penalty, with Saudi Arabia executing a record number of people for a second consecutive year in 2025. He’s jailed his critics and extended their sentences, often on trumped-up charges. He’s overseen the continued oppression of women and the LGTBQ community.
By splashing out billions for a glorified exhibition golf tour and welcoming F1 and the WTA to the kingdom, bin Salman was able to restyle himself as a cool dude with bold visions for his country. Nobody that innovative could be all bad, right?
Wrong.
The Saudi crown prince is as dangerous as ever — what was it Mickelson called his LIV partners? Oh right. “Scary (expletives)” — but LIV helped buy bin Salman enough time to get that side of himself out of the headlines. With that mission accomplished, there’s no reason to continue throwing billions at a tour that is never going to be a viable alternative to the PGA.
There was a time, about when Rahm defected, that LIV appeared to pose an existential threat to the PGA. But there were too many big-name golfers, led by Rory McIlroy, who weren’t willing to sell their souls and legacies, and LIV’s roster was either too unlikeable, too past their prime or too “meh” to entice fans.
That, and LIV proved to be little more than the 18-hole equivalent of a putt-putt course.
Not enough people wanted to go to the events. Even fewer wanted to watch on TV. LIV’s initial 54-hole, team competition format turned out to be awful preparation for the majors. Two of its bigger names, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, have seen the light and are returning to the PGA.
Contrary to CEO Scott O’Neil’s optimism — LIV is “bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before” — LIV is a failing venture. But it's not because of its exorbitant costs, more than $5 billion in just four-plus seasons. Or the lack of energy it's generated among the general public.
It's because LIV has outlived its usefulness.
Whatever Mickelson and DeChambeau told themselves to sleep at night, no matter how many times Rahm checked his bank account, they were never anything more than accomplices in MBS’ sportswashing campaign.
And, as most stooges do, they’ve become expendable.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LIV Golf's usefulness to Saudi Arabia is over
Continue reading...
LIV Golf, Project B, women’s tennis — everyone is expendable once they’ve served their purposes for Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing campaign. The Saudis don’t give a damn if they leave athletes scrambling and confused because they already got their money’s worth from dupes like Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
Rich dupes. But dupes, nonetheless.
LIV Golf is still going — for now. But Rahm, Sergio Garcia, DeChambeau and everyone else who torched their reputations in exchange for boatloads of cash have to wonder what “full throttle” really means when their sugar daddy is shifting its priorities.
“The 2026-2030 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF (Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund) moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments, and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and institutional excellence,” the PIF said in an April 15 release.
Translation: We no longer need the Cleeks, Crushers and Range Goats because the world has moved on.
Saudi Arabia's investment pivot is just disruption of deceit
Saudi Arabia also appears uninterested in re-upping as host of the WTA Finals beyond this year while Project B seems more of a theory than an actual women's basketball league. The PIF already sold Al Hilal, one of the most prominent teams in Saudi Arabia’s domestic soccer league.
LIV was never about upending the PGA Tour, as Mickelson said, or being a “force for change and good,” as DeChambeau once laughably claimed. It, just like all the PIF’s other sports ventures, was about getting the world to forget that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s hands are drenched in blood.
According to declassified U.S. intelligence documents, later contradicted by President Donald Trump, bin Salman ordered the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and fierce regime critic. He’s blessed the expansion of the death penalty, with Saudi Arabia executing a record number of people for a second consecutive year in 2025. He’s jailed his critics and extended their sentences, often on trumped-up charges. He’s overseen the continued oppression of women and the LGTBQ community.
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By splashing out billions for a glorified exhibition golf tour and welcoming F1 and the WTA to the kingdom, bin Salman was able to restyle himself as a cool dude with bold visions for his country. Nobody that innovative could be all bad, right?
Wrong.
The Saudi crown prince is as dangerous as ever — what was it Mickelson called his LIV partners? Oh right. “Scary (expletives)” — but LIV helped buy bin Salman enough time to get that side of himself out of the headlines. With that mission accomplished, there’s no reason to continue throwing billions at a tour that is never going to be a viable alternative to the PGA.
LIV and let die as tour outlasts its usefulness
There was a time, about when Rahm defected, that LIV appeared to pose an existential threat to the PGA. But there were too many big-name golfers, led by Rory McIlroy, who weren’t willing to sell their souls and legacies, and LIV’s roster was either too unlikeable, too past their prime or too “meh” to entice fans.
That, and LIV proved to be little more than the 18-hole equivalent of a putt-putt course.
Not enough people wanted to go to the events. Even fewer wanted to watch on TV. LIV’s initial 54-hole, team competition format turned out to be awful preparation for the majors. Two of its bigger names, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, have seen the light and are returning to the PGA.
Contrary to CEO Scott O’Neil’s optimism — LIV is “bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before” — LIV is a failing venture. But it's not because of its exorbitant costs, more than $5 billion in just four-plus seasons. Or the lack of energy it's generated among the general public.
It's because LIV has outlived its usefulness.
Whatever Mickelson and DeChambeau told themselves to sleep at night, no matter how many times Rahm checked his bank account, they were never anything more than accomplices in MBS’ sportswashing campaign.
And, as most stooges do, they’ve become expendable.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LIV Golf's usefulness to Saudi Arabia is over
Continue reading...
