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Sportswashing’s malign influence on display as LIV Golf lands in Adelaide

A t Adelaide Oval on Sunday attending an AFL match featuring the sport’s most popular team, Collingwood, Americans Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed were beaming. It is little surprise the LIV Golf trio, who share seven major titles between them, were smiling as they were photographed alongside the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas.

The welcome the tour’s 48 golfers have received ahead of the tournament at the Grange Golf Club this week is stark in contrast to the criticism they were subjected to around the globe last year. If Australians had any doubts about the malign influence of sportswashing and its ability to polish the reputation of nations, the inaugural LIV down under event is a counterpoint.

When those same golfers arrived at the Donald Trump-owned Bedminster in New Jersey last July, bereaved families and friends of those killed in the 9-11 attacks were protesting. The disturbing human rights violations Saudi Arabia is accused of, from torturing women’s rights advocates to assassinating journalists, among other atrocities, remain.

But in Adelaide, there has barely been a ripple of dissent. Ground passes to this weekend’s event sold out so quickly an additional allotment was sourced. The golfers are confident they will be cheered from the first tee. And a cross-section of local headlines associated with LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman this week are almost entirely positive, ranging from his near ace last weekend to his belief more world class players will join the tour amid plans for an extension in Australia in 2024.

The players who signed up for the multimillion-dollar tour’s inaugural season are, naturally, focusing on the golf; when the topic of sportswashing was brought up at a

Read more on theguardian.com