Oscar Wilde was defining a cynic when he famously wrote of “a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing,” but today his aphorism might be as readily applied to a Crown Prince (Act Three, Lady Windermere’s Fan, if your majesty deigns, though you might wish to avoid De Profundis on the same shelf). The gap between price and value is relevant when it comes to LIV Golf, the Saudi-funded series churning professional golf’s usually placid waters, not merely as an abstract philosophical question but as a matter of basic fiscal responsibility.
It’s nigh on impossible to muster sympathy for the Saudi regime since that emotion is best reserved for those living under its jackboot. Still, one can almost commiserate with MBS’s fate — increasingly obvious, though perhaps not to him — as being hoodwinked into financing what amounts to welfare for wealthy, washed-up golfers. Consider the amount of someone else’s money that Greg Norman has been willing to bestow upon players whose potential is largely exhausted, limited or unrealized.
A couple hundred million for 52-year-old Phil Mickelson, a feckless overspend even if exaggerated by a multiple. Something similar so Dustin Johnson can accomplish his stated goal of not actually playing golf. A stout backhander to soothe the blushes of Brooks Koepka, who had to perform an about-face that would be the envy of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Another nine figures for Bryson DeChambeau, whose surgically-repaired hand will find it easier to carry the check than his playing future. And that’s all before you tally ‘B’ tier guys like Sergio Garcia (best add a premium to cover tissues for his unceasing tears) and Lee Westwood (whose thirst for lucrative tinpot tournaments long predates his cushy landing, at age 49, on the Saudi scrap heap).
Seen through a clear business lens, these players would be classified not as assets but as liabilities, their peaks long past and their popularity severely diminished. But their pragmatic value bears no relation to their price when Norman is writing checks on MBS’s account. That’s why those who have managed to clamber aboard Greg’s gravy train can’t believe their luck.
“This opportunity has been like winning the lottery for me,” said Pat Perez. The 46-year-old, five years removed from the last of his three PGA Tour wins, didn’t even buy a ticket. It was handed to him.
“It’s a money thing,” echoed Matthew Wolff, whose tenderness in years hides a weary veteran’s scar tissue and distant form.
“Getting paid bigger, better,” said Abraham Ancer, apparently dissatisfied with his ratio of one victory to $15 million in career prize money.
Their comments explain why so many are eager to feast before the Crown Prince realizes how deeply the well-fed have burrowed into his trough. Last month, Norman announced that he had secured another $2 billion from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, in addition to the princely sum he’s already set alight. It’s proving awfully expensive to bankroll the bruised egos of Norman and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the PIF, who has bristled at the refusal of the PGA and DP World tours to indulge him.
A threadbare piece of armchair analysis says the Saudis have a bottomless purse and can finance Norman’s folly in perpetuity. That’s true, at a surface level. They can, but will they? Even the Saudis will reach a point of accountability, when some luckless bureaucrat must reconcile what has been spent with what has been returned. The LIV Golf ledger already shows an imbalance that is impossible to correct, and not just financial.
Even if one views it as an exercise in sportswashing where the only desired return is reputational, LIV Golf is proving a great white elephant, serving only to draw renewed attention to matters the Crown Prince might rather see forgotten. The dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, for example. Or his country’s links to the September 11th hijackers, as repeatedly pointed out by the families of their victims. Or the hit-and-run killing of 15-year-old Fallon Smart not far from Pumpkin Ridge, where LIV Golf is staging an event this week. A Saudi national faced manslaughter charges in her death but was whisked home before he could stand trial, and the regime has refused to return him to face justice. Until Norman found a willing stooge venue in Pumpkin Ridge, the death of Smart had been forgotten, except by those who loved her.
This entire grubby episode has been made possible by what people in golf are willing to forget about or set aside, things like character, honesty, morality, loyalty, integrity. Do that, and it’s easy money. Not much different than a grifter helping himself to the funds of an inattentive dupe. The intriguing question is how long it will take before MBS realizes he is the mark.