The PGA-LIV Golf partnership is a dark day for the sport

Say it isn’t so – that the deal with the devil didn’t happen, that human rights weren’t drowned out by blood money, that a sport with an aura of grace hasn’t succumbed to disgrace.

Tell us it is all just a nightmare and that the decision announced Tuesday doesn’t turn professional golf into a playground for Saudi riches.

The golf world is in a state of shock. It should be. The PGA Tour partnering with the Saudi LIV Golf tour is being met with more condemnation than we’ve seen before – though some players like the financial security it will provide. A dark cloud has moved in and will hover over the “gentleman’s game,” likely for a long, long time. To walk the beautiful fairways in the emerald cathedrals was to make one feel removed, far away from the dross and drudgery of politics. Not so much now, not with the Saudi Kingdom in such a governing role.

The PGA Tour had portrayed the start-up LIV league as an immoral money-grubbing venture and players who joined it as having no sense of honour, as pariahs. Golf fans were led to believe by PGA commissioner Jay Monahan that morality counted. More so than money.

He told broadcaster Jim Nantz after invoking 9/11 that “I would ask any player that has left or any player that would consider leaving, ‘Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?’ ”

What a hypocrite. What a sell-out. The deal Mr. Monahan puts in place has Yasir Al-Rumayyan as chairman of the new combined tour. He is the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is estimated to be worth US$500-billion.

“So weird,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy tweeted, “PGA officials were in my office just months ago talking about how the Saudi human rights record should disqualify them from having a stake in a major American sport. I guess maybe their concerns weren’t really about human rights.”

Making the partnership deal even worse is the way in which it was hatched – in total secrecy, with none of the players involved. No one saw it coming. Details weren’t provided in the jaw-dropping announcement.

“Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with,” said Mackenzie Hughes, a Canadian player on the tour.

This week, the tour is in Toronto for the Canadian Open. Hopefully Mr. Hughes and other Canadian players will take a strong stand against what has happened. It isn’t their doing. Pure American capitalism is driving this deal, which was hailed by Donald Trump, whose golf courses will benefit nicely.

PGA players were offered tens of millions of dollars to go over to the rebel tour but stayed loyal because they didn’t want to play for a league run by a regime with a record of human rights abuses, including restrictions on free speech and the rights of women. Just one example is the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA has concluded was approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. How will players like Rickie Fowler, who turned down a US$75-million offer to join LIV, feel now as those who left and pocketed the great sums are welcomed back?

The partnership, which also includes the European tour, brings the warring factions of golf together, solving a great many problems that were on the table, and the hope is that with time, the great many misgivings will be set aside.

Rory McIlroy, a leader in speaking out against the LIV tour, said he still hates that tour, and feels “like a sacrificial lamb” given what has happened. But he added that he ultimately believes that having the Saudis’ deep pockets pouring money into the new configuration is “good for the professional game” as it secures the Tour’s financial future.

There is some hope that Washington’s anti-trust investigators will take a hard look at the partnership. Sponsors of some PGA events could withdraw their support. Though some PGA players are angry, many on the tour are right-wing players not overly concerned with Saudi regime horrors. For example, golf legend Jack Nicklaus, a strong Trump supporter, welcomed the partnership, saying it’s good for the game.

From a money standpoint he’s right. From a moral standpoint, it’s a pox on the game.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said Rory McIlroy turned down an offer from LIV Golf. In fact, he was never offered money from LIV.