I guess I wasn’t paying attention when the European Tour announced it’s schedule for the 2018-2019 season which included a new stop in Saudi Arabia. The sixth European Tour sanctioned event for the current wrap around season is scheduled this week at The Royal Green G&CC in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia.
Pelly & Saudi Officials
Why Saudi Arabia? And why is such a controversy brewing now on the eve of the tournament?
To start, the European Tour is a bit of a misnomer. Of the 44 events on this season’s schedule only 19 are played on European soil. In an effort to remain relevant and competitive with the dominant PGA Tour in the states, the European Tour has built a truly global string of tournaments that spans five continents.
So they are constantly in the churn of soliciting new sponsors and new international venues on which their players can compete. Still, the prize money on offer in “Europe” is significantly less than that available in the US.
A key tactic that the European Tour uses to amplify the lure of their downsized purses is the widespread practice of paying appearance fees to the elite players in the game.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy flush with petro dollars. Actually, the Saudi Arabia form of government gives monarchy a bad name. It’s really a dictatorship buoyed by the most extensive system of nepotism in the world, as the king is surrounded by legions of sons, brothers, uncles and nephews who command power in every phase of Saudi society.
Nominally aligned with the West, Saudi Arabia has recently entered a so-called new phase of internal economic and political development, with an emphasis on business diversification and some supposed openness to western culture.
The man appointed to lead these reforms Is Mohammed Bin Salman, widely known now as MBS, the favored son of King Salman.
So it’s easy to envision how Keith Pelley, Euro Tour Director, and MBS got together to agree a mutually beneficial deal for a golf tournament. And I’m sure that all occurred prior to the MBS directed murder of Saudi dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
It’s not a deal I would have made (but I’m not a player in world golf). When it comes to Saudi Arabia I’m reminded of the old phrase “ With friends like that, who needs enemies”.
I’m always mindful that 15 of the 19 terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks in the US were Saudi nationals. Osama Bin Ladin was the son of a prominent Saudi family. Saudi Arabia has, for decades, financed establishment of international madrases that teach a very skewed and strident Islam which has contributed to the rise of jihadist sentiment across the globe.
That’s my own particular, American slant on getting into bed, or out on the golf course, with Saudi Arabia.
None of the facts I’ve stated above were not public knowledge at the time the sponsorship deal was made. But Keith Pelley isn’t an American, he’s a business man looking out for the interests of his Tour affiliated players for whom he’s charged to provide earning opportunities.
So what’s a man, or Tour to do, when your newest business partner shows up with blood on his hands and robes?
Apparently nothing, just carry on per normal.
There might be some soul searching and internal self recrimination going on in the halls of the European Tour but I’m not aware of any. I haven’t seen any public statement from them although one might have been made.
Frankly, they’re between a rock and a hard place. But it’s one of their own making.
I’m not saying that they, or anyone, could have foreseen the default ruler of the Saudi Kingdom order the murder and dismemberment of one of it’s citizens.
Yet the Kingdom’s continuing transgressions against accepted Western values and basic human rights, coupled with their extreme adherence to Shariah law while inspiring and financing extreme political groups and movements should have given the European Tour pause.
The pursuit of lucrative business opportunities for it’s constituency should not be used as an excuse by this tour, or any other tour or governing entity, for engaging with nations or corporate entities that are inimical to Western values and principles, as well as those ethics that inspire and order our game.
Golf Channel’s Morning Drive on Sunday offered a robust discussion of this issue. Check it out at here.
Player participation in the Saudi International tournament is another hot topic which the Morning Drive pundits give a good airing to. We’ll address that subject in our next post.
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