Some of you may have heard about the Saudis “sports washing” their terrible human rights record by getting involved with big time golf. Stars past their prime like Phil Mickelson collected as much as $200 million to join the new Saudi Golf Tour. The had their first tournament in London this week.
Next stop on the tour is Portland OR, and the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Course in the suburb of North Plains. Local officials thought it was “immoral” that the Saudis had bought the course for the July 4th weekend, canceling the fireworks display normally conducted on the property.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF; Arabic: ??? ??? ???) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of $600 billion (£490 billion).
Looks like the Saudis will piss away close to $2 billion by the time the managers of the fund realize…“hey this is not working”. There is no TV deal. The sponsors are very unsure and most already in solidly with the PGA. None of the sponsors are leaving the PGA.
The field of players in the LIV tour is not going to fill out unless they get the lowest ranked players in the PGA to come over. It might attract a few of them but there is no bank in that for the Saudi fund. It will just cost the fund in over priced scratch golfers.