Rebranding the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: The Economic and Moral Battle Between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf

Abstract

Throughout its short history, the structures of professional golf have stood relatively intact, with the PGA Tour remaining the dominant league in the world. In 2022, LIV Golf challenged the Tour’s status by purchasing the talents of some of the top professional golfers in the world. LIV Golf is funded almost exclusively by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the financial arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The golf community and international human rights organizations denounced LIV Golf as a blatant example of sportswashing, the practice of using sport as a way to improve the reputation of a country or corporation. I look at Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, their future for their economy, and how LIV fits into that future. The case study of LIV Golf centers around its efficacy; does it work as an effective tool for altering the public perception of the Saudi regime? This analysis find that it fails for a variety of reasons. In this thesis, I retrace the earliest steps in the formation of the PGA Tour, and the development of the both the recreational and professional golf industries. I discuss LIV Golf’s rise to prominence, and its goal to disrupt the institutions that have formed professional golf for decades. I analyze early forms of sportswashing, like Nazi Germany’s hosting of the 1936 Olympics, and explore the concept of “sportswashing lite,” in which sportswashing attempts take place on a smaller and less blatant scale. Through the case study methods and an interview with professional golf analyst Brandel Chamblee, I find that both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have large moral issues that they must grapple with. The PGA Tour is engaging in a form of sportswashing through its use of the non-profit designation, as an attempt to distract from decades of discrimination and wealth-fueled eliteness in professional golf. The non-profit arm of the PGA Tour serves a similar purpose as LIV Golf does to Saudi Arabia. Both sides are choosing to focus on certain issues while ignoring others.