Posted on 06/05/2022 12:01:53 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
Dustin Johnson — Masters champion, veteran still very much in his prime, ranked No. 13 in the world — has joined the about-to-debut LIV Golf tour.
With one move, the LIV tour vaulted from irrelevance to curiosity. Next up: threat.
The Saudi-backed venture is planning on hosting eight 48-player tournaments this season in a range of locations around the world, including the United States. LIV’s primary draw for players is money — vast, generational sums of money — supplied by Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Public Investment Fund. Thanks to a $2 billion investment, LIV plans to begin with a handful of tournaments in 2022 and 2023 before breaking wide in 2024.
The Telegraph reported Wednesday that Johnson was paid £100 million — about $125 million — to join the league. Given that Johnson has earned about $74 million in tournament winnings in the entirety of his PGA Tour career, that sum — or anything close to it — would be enough to get a "tell me more…" from almost anyone.
A player who turns his back on the PGA Tour and sponsorships doesn’t do so without assurances that money in equal or greater amounts will be flowing his way.
From the outside, critics have accused LIV of sportswashing — using sports to clean up the image of Saudi Arabia and obscure its human rights violations. For players, the political backdrop isn’t the issue.
If LIV Golf is still around in five years — and there’s certainly enough money flowing in that it could be — a whole lot of people are going to be rethinking their options. With Johnson in the fold, it’s already begun.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
These PGA players kissing the ass of the people responsible for taking down the WTC. Most so far are over-the-hill players that would sell their soul for a dollar and would do the exact same thing if it was Chins instead of Saudi Arabia. Greg Norman needs to keep his damn mouth shut about players that want no part of it. What an ass. Badmouthing Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods for not caving to the Saudi.
Is he still snorting coke off of Gretzkys's daughter's boobs?
No no no Yahoo. You can’t call out Arabia’s human rights violations while at the same time vilifying Phil Mickelson for telling the truth about those violations.
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