A year after being ostracised by the golfing establishment, the Saudi-funded LIV rebels are back competing in England as they prepare to come in from the cold.
But not even the players who risked their reputations for LIV know the details of a peace deal that is still being pieced together.
LIV’s Saudi sovereign wealth fund ownership agreed a merger with the American and European tours that was announced last month.
The pact paved the way for the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to assume control of a sport that went to court through the PGA Tour to stop them from launching a breakaway series last year.
“I don’t think there’s a guy in the golfing world that really knows what this all looks like,” Northern Irish golfer Graeme McDowell said.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan left the players to do the talking as he played the Centurion Club course.
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The series is back at the Hertfordshire venue where the rebellion began in June 2022.
The acrimony has faded now the players are looking to a future involving readmission to the PGA and DP World Tours that banished them – and issued some fines for splitting off.
McDowell said: “The PIF are going to become a very big investor in the global game of golf, and I think that’s good for the sport to have that amount of money being directed into the sport across the board.
“I think what’s happened the last 12 months and the fracturing of the game is not something we ever, ever wanted.
‘Fracturing of the game is not something we ever, ever wanted’ says McDowell. Pic: AP
“It’s been said by players on the PGA Tour and DP World Tours that if this money is going to be spent, let’s work out how to all spend it together.”
While the players talked last year about being attracted by a format that could appeal more to younger audiences and greater calendar flexibility, the lucrative signing-on fees in the tens of millions of pounds seemed most alluring.
Now the players are more open about that.
McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, said: “Every professional golfer on the planet is competing for financial gain, and that’s just a part of it.
“But it’s not all about that. It is about chasing tradition and legacy, and that is obviously something that we’ve been accused of turning our back on.”
Rory McIlroy previously criticised players who joined LIV Golf
A Saudi sporting influx
Ultimately the gamble of hitching themselves to the Saudis seems to have paid off with the PGA now aligning with PIF – which is also bankrolling an influx of football stars from Europe to the kingdom this year.
A trend started by Cristiano Ronaldo at the turn of the year has seen six players already move to Saudi from British clubs in the summer transfer window – joined also by manager Steven Gerrard this week.
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English golfer Ian Poulter said: “From a business aspect, I think it’s exciting to see them grow the game of golf, to grow football, to go all sports that they want to grow.”
But is there any wariness of being a tool of geopolitics?
“I’m not here to talk about the politics side of things,” Poulter responded.
But the politics cannot be overlooked – even if PIF rejected requests to testify next week on Capitol Hill.
Senate hearings are being held into concerns the Saudi government will be running an American sporting institution.
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For the Saudis, it is about diversifying the economy away from oil. But human rights groups see the Saudis bolstering their influence and status in sport as a means to cleanse the kingdom’s image.
The PGA Tour deplored that rights record when it went to court to thwart LIV a year ago before backtracking.
Now the same leadership wants to embrace the players they ostracised – something Poulter is uneasy with.
Full peace might require change at the top.
“People need to be accountable for their actions,” he said.
