Saudi Arabia’s Golf Game Is About a Lot More Than Golf

Jun 18, 2023
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A view of the 18th hole of a 2022 LIV Golf tournament in Thailand - source: Reuters
About the Authors
Ambassador Dennis Ross
Dennis Ross

Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama, is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute.

Articles & Testimony

The headline sports deal holds wider implications for normalization with Israel, nuclear proliferation, and Saudi modernization, among other pressing bilateral issues.

The news that the PGA Tour, DP and LIV Golf tours agreed to merge and forge a larger commercial business with the Saudi Public Investment Fund shocked the sports world. From the perspective of geopolitics, the motivations of Jay Monahan of the PGA Tour do not matter. However, the motivations of the Saudis do. This is not about “sports washing,” as some critics are quick to charge. Rather, it is about branding the Saudis on the world stage as being a leader in sports. Yes, that may affect the image of Saudi Arabia internationally, but there is much more to this...

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