The LIV Golf Tour is here, unfortunately, and while it’s a super gross league funded by the dirty money of stone-cold killers, it is also shining the light on some golfers and who they really are as human beings.
And let me tell you something, they aren’t great!
LIV Golf held player press conferences Tuesday in London ahead of this week’s debut event and the whole thing was a total mess that was full of embarrassing comments by golfers who should be ashamed of themselves.
If you’re wondering about LIV Golf, it’s a new golf league funded by the Saudi government, which executed 81 people on March 12 of this year. It’s the same government that has committed various human rights violations for many years but now this golf league is here to try to help them look like better people. Sportswashing, folks. It’s called sportswashing.
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Let’s look at some of the worst comments from today.
Graeme McDowell said he tries "to be a great role model to kids" while taking money from killers.
This is an amazingly maddening watch:
when something reprehensible happens, people use language to soften it over time.
for example, “the khashoggi situation” actually means a person was lured to a saudi embassy, executed, and dismembered with a bone saw https://t.co/7ZabyNG8cl
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) June 7, 2022
McDowell also rambled about how something new is good when really that something new is just a lot of new money in his bank account:
🗣️ "There's a space in the game for something fresh & new, kind of like Twenty20 cricket, its better for fans, its better for players"
Graeme McDowell has his say at the Centurion Club about the Liv Golf Series 👇 pic.twitter.com/K7qJqw4kr8
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 7, 2022
Talor Gooch, who has one win on the PGA Tour, decided to play dumb instead of sticking up for human rights.
This is just pathetic:
Gooch had months to come up with an answer and this is really what he went with
— deepfriedegg (@deep_fried_egg) June 7, 2022
Dustin Johnson explained how he chose what's best for he and his family.
This dude has made over $74 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour and has made additional money in his numerous endorsements, which includes a private jet company and a huge bank in Canada.
BREAKING🚨: Dustin Johnson RESIGNS from the PGA Tour
The golfer is now ineligible to play in the Ryder Cup. pic.twitter.com/LLmlmIDKmF
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 7, 2022
Louis Oosthuizen said he was close to retiring to his farm but then he couldn't pass up this dirty money.
Who can say no to such an opportunity! Not this one-time major winner:
Louis Oosthuizen also said he was also giving up his PGA Tour membership. "It was probably going to be my last year on Tour. I always said when I get to 40, I want to do something else. Everyone knows I love being on the farm. So I was almost done. Then along came this."
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 7, 2022
One LIV official got mad at a reporter for doing their job.
This poor LIV official.
Second LIV Press conference (Na, Gooch, Piatt) ends in kerfuffle when the AP reporter tries to ask a question, but is cut off by LIV spokesman. Players file out slowly, awkwardly as LIV officials argue loudly with reporter about how he's not being "polite."
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 7, 2022
Ari Fleischer was there and said something pretty dumb.
Come on, man.
Ari was asked how he squared his current relationship with LIV Golf with his past tweets claiming Saudi Arabia was spending billions to ensure Mohammed bin Salman wasn’t overthrow, and wasn’t this an example of that. Fleisher said that tweet was “a long long time ago.”
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 7, 2022
Gooch and Kevin Na made one of the dumbest arguments for joining LIV over the PGA Tour.
I mean, this is silly:
FYI: Kevin Na and Talor Gooch claimed with a straight face today one of the biggest reasons they joined LIV is the appeal of shotgun start formats because it’s so frustrating to get a bad side of the draw. Behind “Grow The Game” I think “fairer draw” was most popular talking pt.
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) June 7, 2022
This wasn't said but here are the list of teams names, which are also dumb.
Congrats, Sergio Garcia, on being the captain of team Fire Balls.
Captains and team names for the first LIV event. Phil Mickelson’s team is the “Hy Flyers.” pic.twitter.com/mwEvs88XDN
— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) June 7, 2022
Also, look at these terrible team logos:
Here are the logos for the team names listed below. Sergio’s “Fire Balls GC” with a Major League anthropomorphic ball motif. https://t.co/nKJcbPnUpK pic.twitter.com/SvLrW0blYP
— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) June 7, 2022