Scotland’s Iconic Golf Destination Goes All In With Saudi Arabia – You Won’t Believe What They’re Building!

As he geared up to play golf at the historic Old Course in St Andrews, the Scottish city known as the ‘home of golf’, Dominic Clemons was still digesting the shock tie-up that gave Saudi Arabia enormous influence over the future of the professional golf game.

“I feel sorry for the guys who were loyal,” the 20-year-old said, referring to players who resisted the hundreds of millions of dollars offered by LIV Golf, the oil-funded newcomer launched in 2021 to shake up the ancient game. in favor of the preservation of its traditions.

The arrival of LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia’s $650 billion sovereign wealth fund, has thrown the sport’s elite level into unprecedented turmoil, as some of its biggest names have signed up for fortunes. offers.

Tiger Woods, one of golf’s most bankable stars, reportedly turned down a huge sum to participate, but other top players, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, signed up. Recriminations and lawsuits ensued as the US PGA Tour and its European counterpart banned the Rebels from their competitions.

Then, out of the blue on Tuesday, a Deal It was announced to combine the US and European tour business with LIV Golf, with the new entity chaired by Saudi power broker Yasir al-Rumayyan and funded by the kingdom’s petrodollars. This has left many complaining of a takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund rather than a commercial merger, although the PGA Tour will hold a majority of the voting rights.

The bold Saudi move underlined how professional it is golf it has become a global sport, hugely popular in the United States and much of Europe, growing rapidly in Asia and enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people with little or no connection to its Scottish origins.

But it remains an important part of the Scottish identity, particularly in St Andrews, a picturesque east coast town where golf was first played in the Middle Ages and which boasts the oldest course in the world.

The Old Course’s flagship – there are six others in the city – has hosted The Open, one of golf’s four ‘majors’, 30 times, more than any other, and legends like Jack Nicklaus, the late Seve Ballesteros and Woods navigated his dreaded 17th ‘hole road’ to lift the famed Claret Jug.

Yet few in St Andrews were willing to give the sport’s new Saudi co-owner the benefit of the doubt. Gary Maxwell of Glasgow-based Ideal Executive Travel, who showed clients around the city, struggled to reconcile previous positions taken by US and European sports bosses that LIV Golf was an existential threat, with their sudden embrace the organization.

He concluded that the merger was “just for money and money,” adding, “I’m not particularly keen on it, golf should stay with its traditions.”

The PIF has ambitious plans, as it seeks to gain acceptance for LIV Golf’s team-based format and marry it with the commercial appeal of the PGA Tour, which boasts blue-chip sponsorships and lucrative broadcast deals. Details will be clarified in the coming weeks, but the PIF could pump about $3 billion into the new entity, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

The Saudi golf tour comes less than two years after the PIF took a majority stake in English Premier League football club Newcastle United. That deal prompted allegations from human rights organizations that its large sums were used to soften the image of a country accused of human rights abuses.

The “sportwashing” label has been revived after the merger by those who say Riyadh is still using its wealth to buy prestigious assets in a bid to boost its image, this time on an even grander scale.

Moraig Orton, 78, a St Andrews resident who first picked up a golf club as a child, said recent events have reinforced her view that the professional sport has abandoned its roots. “Golf. . . he’s lost the idea that he’s everyone’s game,” she said.

Two other golfers, both members of a “women’s over 80s club,” were more outspoken in their disapproval. “It’s a shame if the Saudis take it over,” said one of them, who preferred not to reveal her name. “Saudi Arabia’s history with human rights is not good. St Andrews includes all genders and ethnic groups,” she added of the city.

Neil Coulson, chief executive of the St Andrews Links Trust, which manages the town’s seven courses, declined to comment on the merger, other than saying he welcomed “initiatives that develop and promote participation and growth in the game”.

But the shakeup has been greeted by the organization that runs courses owned by former US President Donald Trump, including Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire on Scotland’s west coast. Sarah Malone, executive vice president of Trump International Golf Scotland, called it “the best news to come out of the golf world in a long time”.

It was not a view shared by Rebecca Roberts, who was visiting the Old Course to support her son Matt, a great amateur golfer set to play in the St Andrews Links Trophy tournament.

She was left to ponder how the merger of LIV Golf would shape the future of the game, especially the repercussions for young golfers who have seen great rewards go to those who initially decided to jump ship.

“You decide to leave for financial gain. . . and besides, you’re the one who’s sitting well,” she said. “I’m not sure if this portrays the right message for the younger generation.”

Additional reporting by Samuel Agini in London