Full Comment - LIV Golf is ‘sportwashing’ a bloody Saudi regime

00:00:00.000 Did you lock the front door?

00:00:04.060 Check.

00:00:04.620 Closed the garage door?

00:00:05.780 Yep.

00:00:06.300 Installed window sensors, smoke sensors, and HD cameras with night vision?

00:00:09.780 No.

00:00:10.620 And you set up credit card transaction alerts, a secure VPN for a private connection,

00:00:14.060 and continuous monitoring for our personal info on the dark web?

00:00:17.080 Uh, I'm looking into it?

00:00:19.600 Stress less about security.

00:00:21.360 Choose security solutions from Telus for peace of mind at home and online.

00:00:25.220 Visit telus.com slash total security to learn more.

00:00:28.800 Conditions apply.

00:00:31.000 Wait, I didn't get charged for my donut.

00:00:34.400 It was free with this Tim's Rewards points.

00:00:36.600 I think I just stole it.

00:00:38.000 I'm a donut stealer!

00:00:39.920 Oof.

00:00:40.580 Earn points so fast, it'll seem too good to be true.

00:00:43.600 Plus, join Tim's Rewards today and get enough points for a free donut, drink, or Timbits.

00:00:48.400 With 800 points after registration, activation, and first purchase of a dollar or more.

00:00:51.960 See the Tim's app for details at participating restaurants in Canada for a limited time.

00:00:55.400 Ontario, the wait is over.

00:01:00.420 The gold standard of online casinos has arrived.

00:01:03.560 Golden Nugget Online Casino is live, bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips.

00:01:10.680 Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple.

00:01:15.620 And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games.

00:01:21.680 Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino.

00:01:31.340 Take a spin on the slots, challenge yourself at the tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action.

00:01:37.820 All from the comfort of your own devices.

00:01:40.040 Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino?

00:01:44.900 Gambling problem? Call ConnexOntario, 1-866-531-2600.

00:01:50.540 19 and over, physically present in Ontario.

00:01:52.820 Eligibility restrictions apply.

00:01:54.440 See GoldenNuggetCasino.com for details.

00:01:56.920 Please play responsibly.

00:02:03.900 Hello, I'm Anthony Fury.

00:02:05.240 Thanks for joining us for the latest episode of Full Comment.

00:02:08.000 If you haven't done so already, please consider subscribing.

00:02:10.220 The golf world has been upended by Saudi Arabia, and it is now mired in controversy and an existential debate about its future. 0.99

00:02:19.200 Well, that's a sentence I never thought I'd be saying.

00:02:21.260 Yet it's true.

00:02:22.460 In June, the Live Golf Invitational Series, that's L-I-V, began competing with the PGA, and it's backed by the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund.

00:02:30.860 There's drama, there's accusations, there are strong opinions on both sides, protests even, leaving everyone asking, what's the future of the professional golf world?

00:02:41.820 Our guest today, Rick Riley, is one of the top sportswriters in America.

00:02:45.900 He's been a columnist for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, he's written many books.

00:02:49.520 He's a member of the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

00:02:53.000 He's been voted National Sportswriter of the Year 11 times over a career that began in 1979.

00:02:59.460 And I think Rick is really the best person to break down what's really going down and offer his take on what's going to happen next.

00:03:05.600 And his new book out now is So Help Me Golf, Why We Love the Game.

00:03:10.700 Rick Riley, great to chat with you again.

00:03:12.660 Welcome to the program, sir.

00:03:14.700 Anthony, you know, in their defense, not a single journalist has been cut in half so far.

00:03:22.720 You know, so that's something they're doing better.

00:03:26.300 I just don't get the whole thing.

00:03:28.120 I don't see why people would go see it.

00:03:30.140 It's three days.

00:03:31.400 It's a shotgun start.

00:03:33.360 Yeah, they have some stars, but more than half the people you've never heard of.

00:03:39.140 I mean, what's that?

00:03:40.700 What's the difference between that and the Toronto National member guests?

00:03:44.140 You know, I don't see why.

00:03:46.780 I mean, shotgun start three days.

00:03:49.940 Nobody gets cut.

00:03:51.480 What else?

00:03:51.780 They selling mulligans at the, you know, out front.

00:03:54.340 I mean, do you.

00:03:55.260 Is there a is there a drink cart driven by Donald Trump Jr.?

00:03:59.920 I mean, I just think it's all so schlocky and inorganic.

00:04:05.200 It's not a I don't mind competition.

00:04:07.640 I mean, you know, the AFL made the NFL way, way better.

00:04:13.200 The ABA made the NBA way better.

00:04:15.320 But this is a joke.

00:04:17.800 It's not real competition.

00:04:20.040 I mean, you can make one hundred twenty thousand dollars in every tournament finishing last.

00:04:25.100 That's that's twice as three times as much as what most people make for what?

00:04:29.980 Shooting a radio station, a Zoo 103 or a Circus 107.

00:04:34.520 I mean, there's just no incentive to play well.

00:04:38.540 I mean, besides, of course, the millions that are out there.

00:04:40.940 But my God, you already signed for 200 million.

00:04:43.760 How much how many yachts can you ski behind?

00:04:46.740 It's just remarkable the money that's flown around.

00:04:49.160 One question I have, I don't know the answer to it.

00:04:51.080 So Greg Norman, legend, of course, he's kind of behind this.

00:04:54.760 And he's the front man for the Saudis.

00:04:57.320 Do you know, did he come up with the idea and pitch them or did they come up with the idea and pitch him?

00:05:01.380 This is an idea that's been floating around for about 30 years.

00:05:06.100 Norman tried this about 20 years ago and it failed.

00:05:10.700 Greg has always had kind of a chip on his shoulders about the PGA Tour.

00:05:14.640 And I've never understood it.

00:05:16.020 I knew him pretty well in the 90s.

00:05:17.900 But I don't know if it's because so many people chipped in on him to take majors from him from, you know, behind a dumpster or what.

00:05:25.560 But he's just always had a chip against the PGA Tour.

00:05:28.200 So he found some blood money in this bloody monarchy that runs the Saudis. 1.00

00:05:34.300 You can say, yeah, they're they're starting to be modern, but they still kill journalists. 0.99

00:05:38.920 They jail gay people. 0.99

00:05:40.700 They disappear dissenters. 0.97

00:05:43.400 Fifteen of the 19 9-11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia.

00:05:49.280 Some people think they were funded and trained by the Saudis.

00:05:52.340 How do you get in bed with the Saudis, even if they buy you a new jet? 1.00

00:05:57.000 Is that I mean, those bloodstained checks, don't they stain your new white leather chairs and you're in your jet?

00:06:05.740 And yet there's so many people.

00:06:06.900 I'm not crazy about the idea.

00:06:08.040 And I made one humble little tweet about it.

00:06:10.160 I'm not I'm not a sports broadcaster.

00:06:11.780 I'm usually on news politics.

00:06:12.880 I made one humble little tweet.

00:06:14.480 It was like the most controversial thing I've ever said.

00:06:16.620 You know, there's some people are like, how dare you criticize it?

00:06:19.100 Other people are definitely seeing it the way you're seeing it.

00:06:21.280 I mean, the split is interesting.

00:06:24.140 Oh, Anthony, there's where you made your mistake.

00:06:26.560 You looked at your comments. 0.86

00:06:28.300 I mean, do you do you leave your front door open at night to let people walk in and hit you in the head with a baseball bat?

00:06:34.460 Never look at the comments.

00:06:35.140 I never look at my comments.

00:06:36.940 All the half the people exist just to try to get a rise out of you.

00:06:41.880 But I still find it curious, you know, and even like on the tour.

00:06:45.480 I mean, you've got guys like obviously, you know, Dustin Johnson.

00:06:47.940 He's like, well, I'm there.

00:06:49.020 I'm cashing in.

00:06:49.840 And Tiger, I mean, I know Tiger doesn't need any more money, but he like what was the figure?

00:06:54.240 They offered him like 500k or something.

00:06:56.060 And he was saying, you know, and I don't know why did he not do it?

00:06:58.620 Because he didn't want the money because he was lazy or because to your point, he was like, no, I'm not going to side with the 9-11 guys.

00:07:04.260 500k, they offered him 500m.

00:07:07.240 Sorry, that's what I meant.

00:07:08.560 500 million dollars.

00:07:09.680 And he turned it down.

00:07:11.340 And I hope he turned it down for the reason which is this is dreadful.

00:07:16.300 This is blood money.

00:07:17.780 This is everything against the tour that made him who he was.

00:07:24.600 I mean, that tour took a long time to give it the legacy and the power that it has.

00:07:31.580 And so you're Dustin Johnson.

00:07:33.340 You're going to throw all that away.

00:07:35.220 Now you can't play the PGA Tour, we assume, ever again.

00:07:39.680 And now you can't play the European Tour, we assume, ever again.

00:07:44.440 For what?

00:07:45.320 Playing in Riyadh?

00:07:46.940 Playing at Trump Doral?

00:07:50.100 You know, with Trump going up and down the range like he does?

00:07:53.460 Oh, Greggy, looking good.

00:07:55.280 Because I've been with him when he does that.

00:07:56.940 He used to have a tournament at Doral until it jumped the fence and went to Mexico.

00:08:01.720 And he flies his jet over the course.

00:08:04.100 He lands his chopper on the practice range.

00:08:07.260 He's always looking for attention, as you know.

00:08:10.400 And then he'll just drive up behind a guy as he's about to hit.

00:08:13.860 There's no, it's going to be so.

00:08:15.640 So the next tournament is the end of July at Trump Bedminster, which, as you know,

00:08:20.300 lost the PGA because of Trump's, you know, failed coup attempt.

00:08:25.060 That's going to be madness with Trump in charge.

00:08:28.000 And then on to the finishes at Trump Doral.

00:08:30.680 So you threw all that out.

00:08:32.920 For what?

00:08:33.880 For this?

00:08:34.600 As you then find out you can't get world golf point rankings, which means you're going to

00:08:39.660 slide down the rankings of the best golfers in the world, which in a lot of cases mean

00:08:45.140 you can't.

00:08:46.060 I mean, the Ryder Cup often, a lot of these tournaments pick based on world golf rankings.

00:08:52.160 And what are they going to do if they don't get ranking points?

00:08:55.860 It's going to be, it's really wrecking the pro game.

00:09:00.500 Speaking about Donald Trump, your last book prior to this one, Commander in Cheat, How

00:09:04.840 Golf Explains Trump.

00:09:06.760 Remember we talked on SiriusXM when this book first came out a few years ago.

00:09:10.180 How's the Donald doing now with his golf?

00:09:12.940 He's got, I think he's got more free time in his hand.

00:09:14.860 He doesn't have the presidency and he doesn't have his previous full-time job on the Twitter.

00:09:18.320 So how's he working out with the golf?

00:09:21.520 Well, Donald, Donald says he's a three handicap.

00:09:24.940 I've played with him.

00:09:25.620 He's a 10.

00:09:26.340 If he's a three, then, you know, Queen Elizabeth can pole vault. 0.97

00:09:30.520 There's no way.

00:09:32.480 But so how's he doing?

00:09:34.280 According to him, fantastic.

00:09:36.160 Shot a 73 the other day.

00:09:37.760 Look, I'm.

00:09:39.040 You said the secret service like gets the ball if it's in the rough and kind of kicks it

00:09:43.340 over a little bit more closer to the fairway.

00:09:45.600 Look, he's got the worst escape game because he's never in trouble.

00:09:51.200 His caddies throw it out of every bunker.

00:09:53.800 If it goes in the water, they throw it out.

00:09:55.600 And he says, must have been the tide.

00:09:57.980 That's what he said one time.

00:09:59.540 Must have been the tide.

00:10:01.740 He's so.

00:10:02.900 And so, but then he's got to cover this three handicap with a 10 game.

00:10:06.300 He can't do that.

00:10:07.540 So the caddies team, I swear to God, Anthony, his former caddy master, a guy named Tim Peel

00:10:14.520 told me on the record.

00:10:16.920 Yeah, we had to buy him giant bags of four inch green teas.

00:10:20.700 So his caddies could tee him up in the rough and his opponents.

00:10:24.840 No.

00:10:25.760 Yes.

00:10:26.880 Yes.

00:10:28.000 Oh, my God.

00:10:29.020 It's so.

00:10:29.940 How's he doing?

00:10:30.660 Well, he made a hole in one the other day and Ernie Els was there to witness it.

00:10:34.740 What he doesn't tell you is how many mulligans he took before it went in.

00:10:39.160 You know, he's, he does a lot of stuff.

00:10:42.720 Like he says, he wins club championships.

00:10:44.460 I'm the best.

00:10:45.360 I've won 18 club championships.

00:10:47.260 I think it's 20 now.

00:10:48.740 That's against the best players in the club.

00:10:51.280 I'm like, no way.

00:10:52.920 No way, Donald.

00:10:54.300 And if I, and he admitted how he did it with me, he said, no, whenever I buy a new course,

00:10:59.520 I play the club championship by myself on the first day.

00:11:03.000 And now I'm the club champion.

00:11:05.700 Hey, that's smart.

00:11:07.300 Yeah.

00:11:07.880 It's diabolical, but it's smart.

00:11:11.580 The live tournament.

00:11:12.680 So, I mean, I guess one of the challenges though, is these guys have so much money to sink into

00:11:18.880 it that you're making valid criticisms about, you know, what's going on with the, you know,

00:11:23.140 the number of rounds they're playing, but they can just run out the clock by pouring

00:11:26.420 more and more money into it.

00:11:27.500 And they might say, you know what?

00:11:28.340 It's a good point.

00:11:28.940 Okay.

00:11:29.080 We're going to change this.

00:11:29.800 We're going to change that.

00:11:31.080 Like they're playing for the long game.

00:11:32.640 Surely that's the strategy here for these guys.

00:11:35.440 Are they?

00:11:36.300 Are they?

00:11:36.860 I don't know.

00:11:38.060 I mean, they've, they've started, they've started backing sports before and pulled out.

00:11:42.720 My question is, okay, Phil Mickelson, you know, you called them, excuse the language, 0.95

00:11:50.440 but bloody MFers. 0.85

00:11:51.820 You, you admitted in, in the book that the guy wrote about you, that they're, they're, 0.99

00:11:57.020 they're murder journalists.

00:11:58.940 They're terrible with human rights, terrible with women's rights. 1.00

00:12:02.900 Uh, although maybe we're no, America's no one to talk, but, and then you join.

00:12:09.240 And so now you've, so this year you'll play eight tournaments, which every attendance,

00:12:14.460 every attendance at these tournaments is compulsory.

00:12:17.460 Next year is 14.

00:12:18.740 Now let's say Phil's got his daughter's piano recital and he doesn't particularly want to,

00:12:24.600 to, to, uh, fly to Lebanon for the, for the Lebanon masters or whatever the hell it is.

00:12:30.960 And they're, and they're like, oh yeah, you're coming.

00:12:33.860 And he's like, oh, no, thanks.

00:12:35.460 It's not like the PGA tour.

00:12:37.080 You have to go to every tournament.

00:12:39.140 So if, if he doesn't go, does he start hearing bone saws outside his door?

00:12:44.420 I mean, it's a, it's a very, you've, you've, you've gotten in bed with some bad bedfellows here.

00:12:52.020 What do you make of the endorsement by someone as big as Dustin Johnson?

00:12:55.580 Now I know you wrote a book with Wayne Gretzky years ago.

00:12:57.960 You know, Gretzky Gretzky is of course, Dustin Johnson's father.

00:13:00.860 They're in law and they're tight.

00:13:02.680 Apparently, you know, he's in the inner circle.

00:13:04.160 He advises him a lot.

00:13:05.120 So Gretzky green lit this, I assume.

00:13:09.080 Well, I don't know.

00:13:10.020 I mean, Dustin Johnson is not anybody's, uh, idea of a Mensa club member.

00:13:18.640 You know what I mean?

00:13:19.180 He's so light.

00:13:20.380 He's so dense that light bends around him and he doesn't, he doesn't, I'm not sure he knows what he's doing.

00:13:26.660 I'm not sure he knows where Saudi Arabia is.

00:13:29.000 So he was already richer than any Kardashian.

00:13:32.300 Uh, he married into the Gretzky family.

00:13:35.060 Yes.

00:13:35.160 The Gretzkys like him, but they, he didn't need this. 0.71

00:13:38.580 How much, how much did he lose in endorsements?

00:13:41.060 And he's like, well, I'm, I'm doing it for the, for the, for the good of my family.

00:13:45.580 Like, what does that mean?

00:13:46.500 God, how good is your family need to be?

00:13:48.520 And I love Dustin or even Phil Graham McDowell.

00:13:52.620 They're like, no, the game of golf can, we're doing what we're doing it because the game of golf can, can do so much good for countries like this.

00:14:00.280 Really, really, you think golf is going to, is going to turn around all these human rights, bloody violations they have over there.

00:14:09.180 Same way that when Kim Jong-il shot 34 one day and made five holes in one, all the people of North Korea stopped starving.

00:14:18.240 No, they didn't. 0.98

00:14:19.320 Golf can't do crap for these people. 0.97

00:14:21.760 Well, here's the thing. 0.98

00:14:22.320 I mean, in America, we've seen a lot of increasing intersection between political activism or political gestures and sports.

00:14:29.360 A lot of people feel that can be a force for good, but then the frustration is then you go and you play in China and they, they don't do the same.

00:14:35.340 You get a guy like John Cena movie comes out.

00:14:37.460 He says something not perfect about, oh, I got to apologize.

00:14:40.400 Got to bow to not the almighty dollar, but the almighty yen, I guess.

00:14:43.380 And a similar situation, I guess, happening in Saudi Arabia.

00:14:47.840 Well, you know, I think the good it's doing is for the, is for the family, the royal family, because it's, hey, look at us.

00:14:58.400 We're fun.

00:14:59.100 We like golf.

00:15:00.440 We don't, we don't just sit around and jail people.

00:15:04.900 Look how great.

00:15:05.920 So what they're doing is sports washing their image.

00:15:08.480 So how many years of using up Phil and Dustin and Patrick Reed will it take before they're like, yeah,

00:15:15.940 we're losing a billion a year on this.

00:15:18.060 Let's stop now.

00:15:19.520 Not that they really have a bottom line, but they might get bored or they might like, well, we can find a better use for this money.

00:15:25.900 What they're getting out of it is a, is a whitewashed sports washed image.

00:15:30.320 And people are buying it.

00:15:32.260 Like in my country, they're like, oh, like you don't have Saudi gas in your tank.

00:15:36.780 Well, no, I drive an electric car, but that's a geopolitical necessity.

00:15:41.380 We need gas, especially now with the war on people like, well, yeah, but the NBA plays in China. 0.99

00:15:47.840 They don't play their entire schedule run by the Chinese.

00:15:51.780 They go there.

00:15:52.740 I mean, some NBA players go there occasionally and play NBA clinics and games, but that's one or two games a year.

00:16:01.620 They're not playing an entire schedule over there.

00:16:04.200 It's ridiculous to say, oh, it's just, you know, you buy your shoes at a Nike Chinese factory.

00:16:14.140 Well, they have 43 factories.

00:16:15.920 I'm just saying this is something nobody needs.

00:16:18.820 Nobody needs Saudi golf for us to continue to live our lives in North America. 1.00

00:16:24.480 And so I'm, I'm really offended that these guys were so short-sighted to not only do it, but then say, oh, we're doing it for the good of the people.

00:16:34.260 Get out of here with that. 0.99

00:16:35.480 Sell it somewhere else.

00:16:37.060 We'll be back with more with Rick Riley in just a moment.

00:16:43.420 Bank more encores when you switch to a Scotiabank banking package.

00:16:47.920 Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages.

00:16:51.480 Conditions apply.

00:16:52.180 Scotiabank, you're richer than you think.

00:16:57.640 Rick, I know these guys on the tour, they're buddies.

00:16:59.900 They can be quite close.

00:17:00.960 Sometimes when they're traveling from, from city to city, state to state, country to country, they rent a home where they, you know, two or three different players with the, with the wife and the little kids.

00:17:09.000 They all stay together, uh, hearing stories about, you know, Scotty Scheffler being super serious about playing like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit or whatever it is the night before winning the Masters.

00:17:17.100 They're all, you know, getting into that together.

00:17:19.340 This is obviously something that, you know, this is a family.

00:17:22.180 A lot of these guys.

00:17:23.420 And yet this issue, well, you tell me, is it tearing the family apart?

00:17:27.200 Because they're disagreeing.

00:17:29.240 Absolutely.

00:17:30.600 Absolutely.

00:17:31.960 You know, there's a, there's a gang of young, great guys who were all really tight.

00:17:36.800 And now suddenly some of them just left the tour, uh, and really hurt the tour, uh, and to, to play for the Saudis.

00:17:46.420 And now they, they're not going to be together.

00:17:48.540 Look, so, so it's, but you know, Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler might go.

00:17:53.860 Kisner might go.

00:17:55.320 Um, you know, it's, it's, it's been a point of contention and it's just icier.

00:18:01.320 You can feel it in the, in the clubhouses and locker rooms.

00:18:04.420 It's just not as fun as it was, but let's talk about it from the point of view of the golf fan, you and me.

00:18:10.520 We're not going to see these guys play each other that much anymore.

00:18:14.860 Apparently, uh, we'll see what the master says.

00:18:17.320 They still haven't commented on it, but apparently the mat, the majors will allow these guys to play.

00:18:23.520 But again, as you slide down the world golf rankings, will you even be invited?

00:18:28.120 Uh, so you're not going to get all those great tournaments, Muirfield and, um, Castle Pines, Pebble Beach, where they're all together going against each other.

00:18:38.860 You've got this horrible half of them are, a third of them are over there.

00:18:43.940 Two thirds of them are here.

00:18:45.760 It's that same thing that happened to IndyCar and it ruined IndyCar and it could well ruin golf.

00:18:51.860 We could have a split tour and that's no good for anybody.

00:18:56.500 And, uh, and already there's a lot of hypocrites, guys that used to share houses together, as you pointed out, are suddenly, you know, Rory's at each other. 0.52

00:19:05.720 Justin Thomas, you know, is unhappy. 0.82

00:19:09.080 Um, like, is it for real or is it just for show for the cameras?

00:19:11.760 Like they are kind of pissed.

00:19:13.180 It's real.

00:19:14.260 It's real.

00:19:15.180 There might be a little jealousy too.

00:19:17.200 I mean, when someone like Patrick Reed, who we, who the players call table for one, cause nobody likes him.

00:19:23.040 He's been signed for $50 million or Charles Schwartzel is already up to $6 million plus what he signed for, which was probably about 25.

00:19:34.500 Uh, you know, you can kind of see why Ricky Fowler might jump since he can't break an egg lately.

00:19:40.480 Uh, but on the other hand, what's it worth to your name?

00:19:44.820 What's it worth to your legacy?

00:19:46.540 You lose all your endorsements.

00:19:48.180 Here's a, here's a typical example.

00:19:50.100 Phil jumps, right?

00:19:51.580 So he was making at least 30 million in endorsements.

00:19:54.800 Then about two weeks after he jumps, Nick Faldo, the lead, uh, guy in the booth for CBS golf quits.

00:20:02.700 Well, that was going to be Phil's job.

00:20:05.580 Phil had been practicing for it.

00:20:08.260 He did given him a couple of tryouts.

00:20:09.960 He did fantastic.

00:20:11.660 And you know, you know, Phil, he did all the research.

00:20:13.660 He was ready with really interesting stuff, really fun stuff.

00:20:17.280 He's the best I'd ever heard in the booth.

00:20:19.680 That would have paid about 15 million a year.

00:20:22.340 That's gone.

00:20:23.740 We'll never hear him in the booth on the PGA tour now.

00:20:26.840 So what's all this worth?

00:20:28.500 I just wish they'd have thought harder about it.

00:20:31.540 And the crazy thing is it's not like there's a elder statesman.

00:20:35.540 It's not like there's a broader governing body that can come in and say, boys, boys, let's, let's settle this down.

00:20:39.960 Let's talk it out.

00:20:40.800 I mean, this is the disruptor here.

00:20:44.620 Yeah.

00:20:45.780 Yeah.

00:20:46.180 You're right.

00:20:46.740 There's nobody right now.

00:20:47.920 They're playing this JP McManus pro-am thing, which has got the greatest field I've ever seen for a pro-am.

00:20:53.600 And that guy McManus is this Irish businessman that everybody loves.

00:20:58.140 He could maybe get them all in a room, get the two commissioners.

00:21:02.900 Well, the Saudis don't have a commissioner that would come.

00:21:06.640 I mean, they would never get Greg Norman in a room.

00:21:08.940 Maybe they would.

00:21:09.740 But he could sit there in Ireland and get the major players together and maybe work it out.

00:21:14.380 Because there is a way to work this out.

00:21:17.980 There's a way for the PGA Tour to back off and say, look, and Norman to back off.

00:21:24.400 And you could say, look, Greg, we don't want to ban these guys.

00:21:28.700 You don't need them for all eight tournaments or next year, 14.

00:21:32.740 Let them sign up for seven.

00:21:34.500 OK, if they can, you know, if that's a fair deal, extend their contracts so it makes sense to you guys.

00:21:40.880 Do seven there.

00:21:42.200 We'll rescind our rule about you have to play 15 PGA Tour tournaments to remain a member.

00:21:49.080 And we'll change the game of golf.

00:21:51.160 But in this way, we'll be able to again see the great players play each other more often.

00:21:57.260 And I hope somebody agrees to do that.

00:22:01.060 It would take swallowing a lot of pride at this point.

00:22:04.220 But there is a way out.

00:22:06.160 Well, I know you're skeptical about whether they're in this for the long game or not, the Saudis. 1.00

00:22:10.040 I mean, 20 years from now, are we going to be saying, oh, yeah, we got these two, you know, great major leagues.

00:22:15.100 There you go.

00:22:15.520 Or are we going to be saying, oh, remember that live thing?

00:22:17.840 Like we say, remember there's lingerie football for like a year?

00:22:20.020 What was that all about?

00:22:20.880 Like, where is this going to be?

00:22:23.640 Wait a minute.

00:22:24.660 Did you just disparage lingerie football?

00:22:27.420 No, no.

00:22:27.940 I was longing for its return.

00:22:29.420 That's all.

00:22:31.060 No, I know what you're saying.

00:22:32.920 I could be dead wrong.

00:22:34.340 This could be the AFL.

00:22:36.420 And eventually it becomes this giant thing.

00:22:39.360 But my point is, Saudis, what sort of golf legacy do they have? 1.00

00:22:44.780 I mean, they have a few courses.

00:22:47.440 They've had a tournament where guys go over once a year and make a giant check and then come back.

00:22:53.900 I mean, I can't see why it's built.

00:22:55.820 I can't see it's built into their blood to really make this work.

00:23:00.040 To me, it's just a toy that they could.

00:23:02.600 I mean, the fund they have, fund, F-U-N-D, to whitewash, sportswash their image has $600 billion in it, I think. 0.96

00:23:13.620 So they can do this for quite a while.

00:23:15.840 The question is, will they get bored?

00:23:17.900 And will they get sick of people like me saying, this is a joke and it's criminal and it should be stopped?

00:23:25.840 But they might get sick of it.

00:23:27.400 I don't know.

00:23:28.240 We'll see.

00:23:29.060 But if it's going to really stick around, they've got to find a way to work with both the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

00:23:38.360 Rick, your new book is So Help Me Golf, Why We Love the Game.

00:23:42.340 And so many guys I know are in my situation where you do those 18 holes and you go, oh, why do I love this game?

00:23:48.880 After looking at your scorecard.

00:23:50.800 Yet we do.

00:23:52.500 You know why we love it?

00:23:54.340 That's what the book is about.

00:23:55.500 I've been saving stories, real stories, funny stories, emotional stories about why we love golf.

00:24:01.560 It's the stories.

00:24:04.200 For instance, have you ever played La Hinch in Ireland?

00:24:08.140 No.

00:24:09.220 Well, La Hinch in Ireland is this tiny little dot on the map on the East Coast.

00:24:12.960 And it's like playing through your grandmother's attic.

00:24:15.580 And there's even a blind par 3.

00:24:19.000 There's a blind par 3.

00:24:20.340 You can't see the green.

00:24:21.840 You've got to hit it over this big hill.

00:24:23.580 And you aim for this white rock that moves around in line with the flag.

00:24:29.020 But the greenskeeper can be drunk sometimes.

00:24:31.280 So he forgets to move it or whatever.

00:24:33.860 So you hit the shot.

00:24:35.120 And then you come around the hill to see if there is a green and where your ball might be.

00:24:39.340 Well, one day in 1997, four people made holes in one in an hour and a half on that hole.

00:24:48.300 This is the greatest statistical anomaly in golf history.

00:24:50.900 And the bar is going freaking crazy that night, right?

00:24:54.520 Because these guys all have to buy each other drinks and the whole bar drinks.

00:24:58.000 And the townspeople are in there.

00:24:59.880 And the caddies have stuck in there.

00:25:01.740 And the bartender is having the greatest tip night of his life until his wife walks in clutching the six-year-old son they have and marches the sun behind the bar and says to this kid, you tell your dad what you were doing this fine day, you little rapscallion. 0.97

00:25:21.520 And the kid goes, oh, I was putting balls in the hole. 0.95

00:25:26.100 And he'd been hiding behind a tree.

00:25:32.440 A ball would come over.

00:25:34.280 He'd run out, stick it in the hole, run back behind the tree.

00:25:38.760 And then all because he liked to see 50, 60-year-old white guys riding each other like Shetland ponies and ripping off their shirts like Brandy Chastain after an Olympic goal and going crazy, swimming on the green and losing their mind.

00:25:59.180 He just loved seeing it.

00:26:00.340 And so back to the bar and the bartender's like, his eyes are wide open looking at his kid.

00:26:06.180 And the wife says, oh, you're not going to say anything to the lad.

00:26:09.900 And the bartender picks up his son, kisses him on the forehead and says, yes, good job.

00:26:15.740 And that was it.

00:26:17.500 So somewhere in the world are four people that think they have holes in one at La Hinch, but they don't.

00:26:23.720 And, you know, it's the magic of the game.

00:26:25.300 The fact that, to your point, grown men, old men, grandfathers are going around and chasing this little white ball and the tears and the tears of joy, the tears of frustration.

00:26:36.640 Right.

00:26:37.200 You know, like I can never bend it like Beck.

00:26:39.500 I could never stand at the goal line and kick the ball on whatever he does, bends it into the goal from an impossible angle.

00:26:47.080 But once a year, I can hit a perfect six iron out of a bunker, over a tree and onto the green and anyone can.

00:26:58.140 You never know when it's going to hit you.

00:26:59.780 And at that moment, you are playing as good as Tiger Woods.

00:27:03.280 And there's something about those shots.

00:27:06.140 And there's also a quick story.

00:27:09.260 Like these people, like I played high school sports, right?

00:27:12.220 So all those stories end when I'm 18.

00:27:16.180 But I have this buddy, Two Down O'Connor, who I've known for 50 years.

00:27:20.860 I've played golf with him for 50 years.

00:27:22.960 And I remember 25 years ago, he played bad or something.

00:27:26.420 He goes, Riley, I'll bet you.

00:27:27.900 He's like a 16 handicap. 0.99

00:27:29.620 I'll bet you before I'm dead, I will become a single digit handicap. 0.99

00:27:37.380 And I'm like, I know Two Down.

00:27:38.880 I'm like, no way, 100 bucks.

00:27:40.840 He goes, you're on.

00:27:41.740 But then I thought about it.

00:27:43.220 I'm like, no, no bet, Two Down, because there's no way I can collect. 0.98

00:27:47.600 You'll never give in until you're dead.

00:27:49.880 And when you're dead, I can't get the 100.

00:27:52.560 He goes, no, no.

00:27:53.340 I thought about that.

00:27:54.760 And you know that blue blazer I like?

00:27:57.060 I'm going to put a $100 bill in the pocket of that blazer.

00:28:00.640 And I'm going to tell my wife to bury me in the blazer. 0.81

00:28:03.360 And if I don't become a single digit, you can take it out of the blazer.

00:28:09.500 And I'm like, Two Down, I'm not going up at your funeral and just snatching 100 out of 0.97

00:28:15.020 your pocket and dancing away from the coffin going, ah, sucks to be you, Two Down. 0.96

00:28:19.940 You lose, right? 0.99

00:28:21.380 He goes, no, no, no, no.

00:28:23.100 I've thought that out too.

00:28:24.260 He said, you fall over the coffin in grief, crying.

00:28:30.140 And as you fall over my open coffin, you reach in there and take the 100.

00:28:36.240 And I'm like, okay.

00:28:38.480 And I saw him the other day and he's a 27 handicap. 1.00

00:28:41.280 So I like my chances.

00:28:43.240 You've got 80 new funny emotional stories about people who just love the game,

00:28:48.680 all the antics out there on the course.

00:28:50.740 And I'm sure people just for years have been coming up and sharing their stories with you.

00:28:54.080 And it's so, you know, it's both such a communal sport and it's such a personal sport.

00:28:59.020 I mean, everybody just has those stories that like intersect with the big moments in their lives.

00:29:04.060 Yeah.

00:29:04.200 A guy came up to me the other day and he plays this, his dad plays this club where the 10th

00:29:10.580 hole is this giant Barranca Canyon and you have to hit it.

00:29:16.020 It's a par three.

00:29:16.980 You got to clear 180 yards to get over the canyon and the hole is about 210.

00:29:21.520 And this guy's terrible.

00:29:22.800 And so whenever he gets to that hole, he takes an old ball out of his bag and throws it down

00:29:29.920 to the bottom of the can.

00:29:31.240 He throws it.

00:29:32.180 And always whoever he's playing with goes, Jim, what the hell are you doing?

00:29:37.240 And he says, his dad always says an appeasement to the gods.

00:29:42.100 Wow.

00:29:44.280 That way he's, he's appeasing the golf gods in hopes that his actual shot will clear the

00:29:49.780 canyon and occasionally it works.

00:29:52.000 So help me golf. 0.74

00:29:54.160 Why we love the game available now, Rick, this has just been such a fun conversation talking

00:29:58.960 about the book, talking about the live tournament.

00:30:01.380 Who knows what's going to happen there?

00:30:02.780 Thank you, sir, so much for joining us.

00:30:05.500 I got to say, I hope it's short-lived.

00:30:07.800 I really do.

00:30:10.680 Take care, sir.

00:30:11.800 Have a good one.

00:30:12.300 All right, buddy.

00:30:13.220 Full Comment is a post-media podcast.

00:30:15.580 I'm Anthony Fury.

00:30:16.700 This episode was produced by Andre Pru with theme music by Bryce Hall.

00:30:20.680 Kevin Libin is the executive producer.

00:30:22.420 You can subscribe to Full Comment on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

00:30:28.180 You can listen through the app or your Alexa-enabled devices.

00:30:30.980 You can help us by giving us a rating or a review and by telling your friends about us.

00:30:34.780 Thanks for listening.

Full Comment - August 01, 2022

LIV Golf is ‘sportwashing’ a bloody Saudi regime

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript