'Dumbest PR campaign': PGA deal with Saudis seen as publicity disaster for kingdom

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced this Tuesday that they would merge to create a still-unnamed new golf entity. According to reports, the merger allows Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) to have a significant role in men's professional golf.

But according to Politico, while the Saudi-backed venture was successful, it hasn't done a lot to change the regime's image. “September 11,” “hijackers,” “Jamal Khashoggi,” “human rights abuses” and “dismemberment” are terms associated with the kingdom that will be hard to rebrand.

"Amid a torrent of headlines, the dynamics of the world’s worst sportswashing campaign asserted themselves anew: LIV may have pulled off an upset victory, but the news was all full of things the kingdom would rather not discuss. And now the long-dominant American golf organization was getting slimed, too," writes Politico's Michael Shaffer, who asks another question: "Is this the dumbest PR campaign in the history of the Beltway’s influence industry?"

LIV has claimed that its goals have nothing to do with “sportswashing" Saudi human rights abuses. But regardless, the conversation drifted into subjects surrounding terrorism, which have dogged the Saudis for decades.

Now the kingdom has to deal with a new topic -- betrayal. "An endlessly wealthy foreign entity enticed an American institution to abruptly reverse itself, letting down the golfers who had nobly refused the Saudi money while making a liar of the commissioner who begged them to stick with PGA in the name of all that is decent and true," writes Shaffer.

"Memories are short and, who knows, perhaps the ruling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will turn out like one of those American robber barons who buys the local football team, wins a Super Bowl and turns himself into a man of the people."

Read the full article over at Politico.