Saudi Arabia’s controversial new golf tour collides with reality

There are lots of things one might say about the new Saudi-sponsored LIV Golf Tour, a blatant attempt to “sportswash” the kingdom’s shaky public image. The new initiative has roiled the ranks of professional golf, though its initial events haven’t drawn much of a crowd. Although the Saudi initiative may never manage to compete with the Masters Tournament, it illustrates the obstacles that new challengers face when they try to compete with an established order. Indeed, one sees similar forces impeding China’s efforts to supplant the present array of international institutions with ones that are better suited to Chinese preferences.

For those of you who don’t pay any attention to sports, the LIV Golf tour is a new set of golf tournaments backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. It has enticed a number of famous professionals to enter its events by offering big upfront payments to established stars, promising big purses to the winners, and guaranteeing that all participants will take home a sizable paycheck even if they finish dead last. In response, the PGA Tour and other prominent golf organisations (including the R&A Association, which operates the British Open) have declared that those who join the LIV tour will be ineligible for existing tour events.

Although the PGA’s decision raises some interesting legal issues.Here’s why I think the LIV tour faces an uphill battle: It has gobs of money from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, but it has no history. It sponsors no iconic tournaments that golfers have dreamed of winning ever since they were kids and that fans look forward to every year. Golf is a sport that venerates tradition, and the LIV tour has none. As former US Open winner Jpn Rahmput it: “I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years.”

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