Well, there you go. At least Jason Kokrak has the guts to freely explain why he is taking part in the Saudi International. Kokrak is very open to a Super Golf League financed by the Kingdom of the Persian Gulf: “I want to make as much money as possible in as short a time as possible. Cash is king.” Blunt, unsparing, thank you! Finally someone says it. He doesn’t hide behind phrases and empty words. He does not disguise with either defiant coarseness or convoluted reasons why for millionaires money is more important than morals.
“The players take bloody money”
The fourth edition of the sports-washing spectacle called Saudi International has just begun. It takes place at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in the test-tube King Abdullah Economic City. Since 2019, this special week in the desert has become high time for hypocrites.
Every year, Dustin Johnson and his fellow players hire themselves out for horrendous entry fees as willing puppets of the Riyadh regime to add glitz and glamour to golf and wash the ugly stains of murder, human rights violations and multiple abuses off the waistcoat of Saudi Arabia’s international reputation.
“The players should be aware that they are taking bloody money,” wrote the “Washington Post” some time ago, directly affected by the murder of its employee Jamal Khashoggi*. He received attacks on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man behind the machinations.
“Sport is always political”
Not only the pampered protagonists don’t care. Moreover, there are more helpers from the PGA and DP World Tour this year than ever before. To go far and beyond, the chorus of excuses almost becomes a cacophony. At the top of the hit list of lazy phrases is “I’m not a politician”, alternatively “I’m not here for politics, I’m here to play golf”.
As if the decision in favour of the tournament alone were not a political statement. “Sport is always political,” says Prof. Dr. Carlo Masala, Chair of International Politics at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Neubiberg. Dr. Masala explains it in the ARD documentary “Spiel mit dem Feuer – Wer braucht noch dieses Olympia?” (engl. Playing with Fire – Who Needs the Olympics?). Under this title, the former slalom star and today’s TV alpine skiing expert Felix Neureuther asked active athletes, scientists and officials on the occasion of the Winter Games in Beijing. The Winter Games 2022 begind tomorrow and they are not less controversial.
“I’ll take every advantage”
Bryson DeChambeau, for one, loves the “I’m not a politican” slogan. So does Shane Lowry, who moreover drags his family into his excuses: “I’m just trying to take care of them as best I can. This is part of that.” One almost wants to feel sorry for the Irishman who is obviously plagued by existential needs.
Even Kokrak, who incidentally has made it to a career prize money of just over $19 million so far, a million more than Lowry, sugarcoats his relentless bluntness: “I’ll take any advantage I can to give my kids a good start in life.”
“Growing the Game” At the expense of human rights
Of course, the reference to the contribution to the development of golf cannot be omitted; “Growing the Game” is number two on the scale of tried and tested euphemisms. The aforementioned Jason Kokrak has therefore let himself represent Golf Saudi as an ambassador. The media asked about his attitude to the grievances. However, Kokrak explains in all seriousness that he is not a government ambassador, so he has nothing to do with it. “I am paid to grow the game on a global level, not to represent the government or similar institutions.”
“Human rights responsibility of sport”
Are you serious? As a reply, Martin Klein, representative for international sports policy of the association “Athletes Germany”, is quoted here: “Human rights apply universally. That has little to do with politics.” And: “Being politically neutral does not mean tacitly accepting human rights violations […] and even legitimising them with this silence.” With passivity and ignorance, one “possibly makes oneself a collaborator.” Klein expressed this to Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and others also in connection with the Olympics and the role of the IOC, but stressed the fundamental “human rights responsibility of sport”.
Rory McIlroy and the moral questions
Now some will cry again and insist that athletes do not necessarily have to be role models, and point the finger at other sports in a fine “whataboutism”. These are neither shy nor scrupulous about getting involved with questionable friends from the totalitarianism and autocracy department – see IOC and China, FIFA and Qatar or Formula 1 and Riyadh. And that such things are commonplace nowadays anyway and result hard to avoid.
Even Rory McIlroy admits the problem: “We are all long past the point where moral issues alone are the deciding factor. What you do, where you go and who you meet – aligning everything with morals and principles makes life extremely difficult,” muses the Northern Irishman. “There is not only black or white, but also a lot of shades of grey. I’ve thought about it a lot and wrestled with myself for a long time: If you only take the hard line, you will hardly be able to do what you want to do.”
How about a clear statement, then?
Nevertheless, he says no to the Saudi International and to a Super Golf League of Saudi Arabia’s dollar grace, “because I don’t like where the money comes from”. Just like the British tennis star Andy Murray, by the way, who refuses all opulent offers for show matches for the same reason. See Washington Post and “bloody money”. It works.
But if solid players like Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia or Xander Schauffele don’t have the backbone to resist the siren song of the Saudis… How about at least making a clear announcement? Why not simply address the grievances as a mature athlete?.
Formula One hero Lewis Hamilton did it during the PS circus’ recent visit to Saudi Arabia: “I don’t feel comfortable here because I really believe that everyone should have human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of movement, and this is one of the places where that is not allowed. However, unfortunately I don’t have a choice because motorsport has now chosen this scenario.”
Symbiosis of Gage and “Grow the Game”
Or – even better – actually donate part of the fee to golf development, let deeds speak instead of permanently singing the mantra that has long been used ad nauseam. “Grow the Game”: Ideally with the establishment or promotion of a training academy for girls. That would be something. As if a million or two mattered to the already saturated stars.
Didn’t Bryson DeChambeau recently say that he had enough money anyway, that he could stop playing golf and do something else that he enjoyed? We have an idea, and we’d like it to be scientific. Maybe DeChambeau didn’t do the math right this time at the Saudi International of how much harm they cause.
But no, instead the mongrels wrote the muzzle directly on their hay licence and rake in as much dough as they can get. Hush money, that is. Or: What goes around comes around.
Mickelson’s Alibi Argumentation
And then Phil Mickelson comes along yesterday and even tries to give the obvious a legal basis. He said he was looking around for other competition opportunities. Mickelson felt short-changed with regard to his media rights, the right to his own image. “It was the disgusting greed of the PGA Tour that opened the door to all the recent deviant efforts,” rants the man who is worth around 800 million dollars, not least because it was the PGA Tour that commissioned his appearances and thus made him and himself attractive to sponsors.
For decades, this was part of the deal, “Lefty” played along happily, recently even claimed the lion’s share of the popularity bonuses offered as part of the Player Impact Program – and now the self-employed entrepreneur Mickelson is stylising the Tour as an exploitative villain because all this is suddenly supposed to have a bad taste. Really? What an absurd alibi.
Lack of a compass for moderation
If the six-time major winner is so interested in personal rights, he should think hard about not jumping out of the frying pan into the fire with the Saudis. But at least he doesn’t have to worry about the rights of his wife Amy and his daughters. They certainly won’t move to Riyadh just because daddy might soon make his pockets even fuller in the Formula 1 format and will have to dance to Greg Norman’s tune. So much for crooked enemy stereotypes.
It is simply ridiculous what the professionals use to justify their greed for money. Some of them seem to have lost their compass for moderation. Or are they simply puppets of their managers who are responsible for making money?. Anyway, what can you expect from people who show solidarity with crude minds like Novak Djokovic or sympathise and party with nefarious bullies like Donald Trump.
In contrast, Lee Westwood almost becomes likeable again, who confesses with simple frankness: “If someone my age offers me 50 million dollars for a few more years of tournament golf, then I don’t rack my brains about it for long.” For this chance, the 48-year-old Englishman would even throw overboard his ambitions to be European Ryder Cup captain, “because even in the medium term I still see my future on rather than off the fairways”.
Watson and the definition of “bi-God”
Bubba Watson’s drivel, on the other hand, is downright unbearable. He travels to Saudi Arabia in order to enjoy God’s beautiful creation in this corner of the world, the professed Christian babbles. The only question is whether this also includes the rubble with which adulterers or homosexuals are stoned to death in the name of Sharia law. The man from Baghdad – in Florida – is so religious that his spirit and his sanctimonious claptrap are enough for two deities: the All-Father above in heaven and the idol Mammon here on earth. Bi-god, that is.
For Bubba, who is a Bible-believer, the Old Testament was obviously not enough. He would do well to read the part of the “Exodus” in the Second Book of Moses that deals with Moses’ wrath and Yahweh’s retribution because the people strayed from the right path and danced around the golden calf at the brightly blazing fire (fed by oil?).
To conclude with the end of Giovanni Trapattoni’s famous rage speech: Habe fertig! (engl: I am finished)
—————————————————
*Saudi Arabian “Washington Post” journalist Jamal Khashoggi, critical of the regime, was executed and his body dismembered by a hit squad in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul embassy on 2nd October 2018. According to findings by the US Foreign Intelligence Agency (CIA), the murder order came directly from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
