The carnival has come to the New York metropolitan area this week with the arrival of the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational at Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, N.J., and its barkers have a message for anyone who will buy it. Although, it might be more convincing if it were about a bridge for sale.<\/p>\n
Three years ago Paul Casey turned down a hefty appearance fee to play in the Saudi International on the DP World Tour (then the European Tour), citing his relationship with UNICEF, which provides humanitarian aid to children worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cSigning a deal and being paid to be down there \u2026 I would be a hypocrite if I did that,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cAnybody who says sport isn\u2019t political, that\u2019s rubbish. \u2026 I\u2019m glad I took a stance, more so if it highlights the issues within the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old three-time PGA Tour winner who also counts 15 victories on the DP circuit sang a much different tune on Wednesday, however, in his LIV Golf debut.<\/p>\n
(From left to right) Charles Howell, Jason Kokrak and Paul Casey at an LIV Golf Tour press conference in New Jersey. Daniel William McKnight\/NY Post<\/p>\n
It turns out that (a lot of) money can buy happiness, or at least a new viewpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Saudi while I still had that relationship [with UNICEF],\u201d Casey said when asked by The Post what changed. \u201cAs they reminded me, it\u2019s about inclusion, and by not engaging and not participating and not traveling to countries, you harden positions if you do that. You have to be inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fair point, except the rest of the explanation missed the fairway like a badly sliced drive.<\/p>\n
Paul Casey at an LIV Golf Tour press conference in New Jersey. Daniel William McKnight\/NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been there, and I\u2019ve seen change, and I\u2019ve talked to the people there,\u201d Casey said. \u201cI played with a young girl in the pro-am at the Saudi Invitational earlier this year, 17 years old \u2026 I played with another lady who\u2019s a human rights lawyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s many places on the planet that I\u2019ve been to, that I\u2019ve been paid to go to, which I\u2019m not sure I can say the same thing in terms of their trajectory. But I can honestly look you in the eye and say that I see a trajectory, a positive trajectory in the kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth noting that just a few months ago, Saudi Arabia carried out a mass execution of 81 men. And according to Amnesty International, women continue to face serious discrimination in marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody.<\/p>\n
Casey, along with Jason Kokrak and Charles Howell III, fared even worse when they were asked about Saudi Arabia\u2019s abhorrent treatment of gay men and women.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a subject I know enough about to speak about,\u201d Casey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know enough about the subject to speak on it,\u201d Kokrak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019ve never been to Saudia Arabia,\u201d Howell said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stunning remarks for any period in time, much less 2022.<\/p>\n
The LIV Bedminster Golf Tournament will commence this week at Trump Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey. Daniel William McKnight<\/p>\n
When Howell was asked by The Post if his decision to bolt from the PGA Tour to LIV was about the huge sums of money players have been guaranteed, his answer was even more laughable.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney didn\u2019t play a role,\u201d said Howell, who despite a two-decades long career that includes just three wins has banked more than $42 million in earnings, ranking him 23rd all time. \u201cI\u2019ve got nothing but great things to say about the PGA Tour, what they\u2019ve given me, the opportunities, etc.<\/p>\n
\u201c[LIV] is new and exciting. Not that the PGA Tour got boring, but I\u2019m extremely excited to be here for the next few years, and yeah, it\u2019s a new venture, and at this age and this part of my life, it\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howell is in many ways the stereotypical image of a PGA Tour player. The 43-year-old is clean cut, has traditional golf sponsors like Titleist and FootJoy, is deeply religious and his 20-plus-year career has avoided controversy like Tiger Woods once avoided missing cuts.<\/p>\n
Charles Howell III Daniel William McKnight<\/p>\n
But his decision to bolt for LIV and its blood money is proof that not only can the rebel faction buy just about anyone, it further demonstrates that the PGA Tour better figure out a plan beyond simply banning players.<\/p>\n
Golf is already splintered and will become even more so as more players will undoubtedly continue to chase money over history, trophies and legacies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players are not trying to damage the game,\u201d Casey said. \u201cWe leave this to those in charge of the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or at least to those who are paying them to make Saudi Arabia sound like Mister Rogers\u2019 neighborhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The carnival has come to the New York metropolitan area this week with the arrival of the controversial…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4711,66,122,959,310,2926,121],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-charles-howell-iii","tag-golf","tag-liv-golf","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-golf","tag-paul-casey","tag-sports","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117336795028177625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}