LIV Golf: What to know about the controversial Saudi-backed league before first tournament

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LIV Golf’s first tournament will tee off Thursday with a ton of stardom, hype and controversy behind it.

The first tournament will take place in London at the Centurion Golf Club and will run from Thursday to Saturday and feature some of the top stars in the sport, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.

While the stars have come out for LIV Golf, there has been a ton of controversy about the money being pumped into the league and those golfers spurning the PGA Tour to play for the rival league.

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The LIV Golf Invitational begins at The Centurion Club on June 8, 2022, in St Albans, England. (Joe Maher/LIV Golf/Getty Images)

LIV Golf Investments is running the show with legendary golfer Greg Norman as the CEO and commissioner of the league. The majority shareholder of LIV Golf Investments is the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, which is chaired by the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Golfers who decided to participate in the league have been accused of helping Saudi Arabia’s "sportswashing," in which the government uses sports to deviate from its human rights record. Among the issues that were brought up over the last few months was Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Mickelson made startling comments in an interview as part of an unauthorized biography about him. Those excerpts were published in February, creating a firestorm and tremendous backlash against him. He missed the Masters and PGA