There was a time in the distant past — that is, as recently as Monday — when the official position of the PGA Tour was that its competitor, the Saudi-backed golf tour known as LIV, was a scandalous, even odious, operation. Referring to Saudi Arabia’s horrific human rights record, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said last June, “You’d have to be living under a rock to not understand the implications of involving yourself with the Saudis.
It isn’t surprising the country would find a willing participant in the PGA Tour, a right-wing, good ol’ boy organization steeped in racism and classism. Now it will happily re-embrace golfers it branded as traitors for leaving for LIV, such as Phil Mickelson, who took $200 million of Saudi money to leave the PGA Tour. At the time he took that nine-figure check, Mickelson said the Saudis “are scary m-----f-----s to get involved with.