Family ties a poor excuse for fading golfers signing up to Saudi golf riches

Despite being as obvious an attempt at sportswashing as one is ever likely to see, it is difficult to determine what, if anything, the much-publicised LIV Golf Series is likely to do to serve its intended purpose of presenting a more benign, warm and fuzzy image of its backers in Saudi Arabia.

Still in its embryonic stages, with the first ball not scheduled to be struck until later this week in Hertfordshire, things started badly for the Saudi rebel tour and seem to have gone downhill quicker than a bathtub full of pensioners in an episode of Last of the Summer Wine.

Related: Dustin Johnson’s act of greed stands out in Saudi Arabia’s vulgar rebranding game | Ewan Murray

Derided eloquently by Rory McIlroy and with a lineup headed by several past-their-pomp marquee names apparently looking to cash in before qualifying for the seniors tour, the LIV has yet to provide anything resembling the bang Sheikh Mohammed bin Salman’s Public Investment Fund might have expected for the $255m (£204m) it has put up as prize money in its maiden season.

In February quotes emerged from an interview with Phil Mickelson, in which the six-time major winner memorably described his prospective Saudi benefactors as “scary” people to get involved with, voicing commendable reservations that it turned out weren’t strong enough to prevent the American accepting their largesse.

Well aware of his status as a pawn in the sovereign state’s Vision 2030 strategy to launder its bloodstained international reputation by buying Premier League football clubs, setting up golf tours or staging glitzy prize fights, wrestling bouts and grands prix, Mickelson was a more than willing stooge.

He even acknowledged some of the myriad atrocities perpetrated by the