A former athlete and athletic director at Princeton, Marcoux Samaan said she would be providing information on conversations the LPGA was having with players on the Ladies European Tour and with LET officials, “and hope we can share perspectives on the changing global golf landscape.” The letter did not state the series, organization or monarchy that was spurring this change although the implication was clear: If LPGA players had the same reservations about dealing with the Saudis as their PGA Tour counterparts, this was the time to talk about it.Marcoux Samaan went on to outline that she would be at six of the remaining eight events on the 2022 LPGA schedule, starting that week in Portland, Ore., for roundtable discussions to share information, thoughts, concerns and ideas. “I know it’s hard to make time during a tournament, but I can’t stress how important it is for us to communicate,” Marcoux Samaan wrote. “Your legacy is more than just how you play on the course or how much money you earn.” The first meeting was scheduled at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 14, in the player dining area at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
No players showed up.
It’s already been documented that Golf Saudi’s genesis is tied to the kingdom’s Vision 2030 blueprint, a plan to diminish the country’s reliance on oil by diversifying the economy, modernizing its public services and improving its global reputation. Golf was seen as a vessel to those ambitions with projects like developing courses and hosting professional competitions. It is this last point that sparked the Saudi International into existence in 2019, a tournament that was initially sanctioned by the European Tour. But Golf Saudi—and, as an extension, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman—were rebuffed in their attempts to become a more permanent fixture of golf’s political matrix with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. This is what led the Saudis to start their own tour, which beget LIV Golf and the current schism in men’s professional golf.
However, Golf Saudi has had far more success making inroads into the women’s game. In just two years, Golf Saudi has gone from hosting one event on the Ladies European Tour to six, with one of those events played in the United States. Unlike LIV Golf—which is composed largely of players a notch or two below the game's elite—Golf Saudi’s women’s events have attracted in-their-prime talent. (...)
So why is Golf Saudi interested in the LPGA and the women’s game?
Like much of the Saudi involvement in golf, a clear answer is elusive. The uncomfortable truth is that women’s professional golf garners nowhere near the amount of attention—and by extension, money—as its male counterpart, so it’s doubtful Golf Saudi is investing millions and millions into this realm solely for financial reasons. Chalking up the Saudi’s efforts as mere sportswashing seems to be an elementary distillation of the matter, and yet that observation rings louder here than other Vision 2030 sports undertakings. (...)
After Marcoux Samaan said she would listen to Golf Saudi, activist Lina Alhathloul—whose sister, Loujain al-Hathloul, is a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and current political prisoner of Saudi Arabia—implored the LPGA to reconsider. “I am sounding the alarm on the consequences of such actions,” Alhathloul wrote in an open letter. “I urge you to consider the human rights aspect of your potential involvement with LIV Golf and use your influence to positively raise the situation of women in the country and to publicly distance yourself from the Saudi regime."
So far, many of the best women pros have not been deterred by the stigma of association with the Saudi regime. There have been dissidents, though most, including Hall of Famer Karrie Webb, are no longer active players. Unlike their male counterparts, this is not the rich getting richer. It's the upper- to middle-class players becoming rich, or ensuring stability to those just getting by. The case can be made that some don’t have a choice: The Aramco series is roughly 20 percent of the LET schedule. If a player on that tour sits out those events, there’s a good chance they risk losing their card.
“To be honest with you, it’s hard to compare what the partnership that Aramco Series has with the women versus what’s going on with the men,” Lee told Golfweek. “It’s apples and oranges. The women on the LET, they play for almost nothing. It’s very similar purse sizes on the [Epson] Tour. A million-dollar purse for them is huge, absolutely huge. It’s almost life-changing for some of those girls when they make a big check at the end of the week. I feel like on the men’s tour, you don’t have guys rooming every week with another player; you don’t have them sharing an AirBnb; you don’t have them sharing a rental car, staying at host families every week.”
There’s also the air of inevitably, that the LPGA doesn’t have the means for a fight and resistance is futile. “I hope we survive it,” Stacy Lewis told Golfweek last summer. “I’m scared for this tour. I’m scared to lose all the opportunities that we’ve created … I think you have a majority [of players] that would ask, ‘What’s the number?’ Should we talk to them? Absolutely. Ultimately, I think we have to find a way to co-exist.”
by Joell Beall, Golf Digest | Read more:
Image:Amer Hilabi[ed. So, LIV just got a tv golf deal (in a do or die situtation). I don't know... I read this whole story and still can't figure out what's going on. There's a lot of people (and a lot of money) working at cross purposes and it's hard to know where the momentum is going. Some golfers will benefit for sure, but the game not so much. See also: The PGA Tour vs. LIV: Inside the battle between a giant that won't budge and a startup that won't stop; and, The $153 million question: Breaking down the PGA Tour’s response to LIV (GD).]
