Why Saudi Arabia can afford to play a long game in bid to control sport

I t’s not often that a multi-millionaire sports star is a pawn in a global power play, but that was the situation Rory McIlroy found himself in last week. The Northern Irishman, currently ranked the third best golfer in the world, was having to explain how he felt after his long campaign to hold out against a disruptive Saudi Arabian competition had ended with the Gulf state sharing control over the entirety of his sport.

“It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens,” he said.

McIlroy had reportedly turned down hundreds of millions of pounds to join a global tournament paid for by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). LIV Golf, as it was known, was a team-based competition that looked less like the traditional golfing world and more like a Las Vegas nightclub. The teams, comprised of expensively recruited stars, were called things like “Smash” and “4 Aces”. There was music playing on the fairways. Its slogan was “Golf but louder”. Donald Trump was a big fan and several of LIV’s inaugural events were held on his courses.

It was also something of a flop. LIV failed to secure a TV deal for its first season. The crowds were largely underwhelming and apathetic. Only one player ranked in the game’s top 10 signed up. Then there were the lawsuits, to and fro between LIV and the PGA Tour, the traditional powerhouse in the men’s game.

It was a year of acrimony the likes of which the buttoned-down sport had never seen. And then, suddenly, it was over. On Tuesday morning, the PGA announced that it was to merge with LIV and the Europe-based DP World Tour, “a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis”.

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