{"id":49178,"date":"2022-06-13T20:16:08","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T20:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/not-sure-he-knows-where-saudi-arabia-is\/"},"modified":"2022-06-13T20:16:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T20:16:08","slug":"not-sure-he-knows-where-saudi-arabia-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/not-sure-he-knows-where-saudi-arabia-is\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Not sure he knows where Saudi Arabia is&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Rick Reilly thinks of Dustin Johnson like the scarecrow in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d &#8211; a man without a brain.<\/p>\n<p>Reilly, the legendary former Sports Illustrated writer, wrote a scathing entry on his Facebook page aimed at Phil Mickelson that caught Johnson with a ricochet shot.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t blink.  These are perilous times in golf.  The pro game is teetering on the brink of a bloody mess.  The Ryder Cup, the majors, even the Masters may never be the same.  This Saudi effort to sportswash their murderous human rights record by buying off pro golfers with stupid money (Phil Mickelson: $ 200M) is working.  These players know the Saudis kill journalists, jail dissenters, &#8216;disappear&#8217; gays, oppress women.  And these players have said loud and clear: &#8216;We Don&#8217;t Care.  We Want Bigger Jets, &#8216;\u201dReilly wrote.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption>Rick Reilly took a savage shot at Dustin Johnson&#8217;s intelligence.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI can understand Dustin Johnson ($ 180M) taking the bait.  I&#8217;m not sure he knows where Saudi Arabia is, but Phil knew.  Phil reads.  Phil thinks.  And he did it anyway. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>For what it&#8217;s worth, other reports have pegged Johnson at merely \u201caround\u201d $ 125 million &#8211; not the $ 180 million figure Reilly cites &#8211; but the exact figures are beyond the point.  The point is, it&#8217;s a lot of money. <\/p>\n<p>What is scary for the PGA Tour in this conundrum is it&#8217;s kind of like another NL East owner bidding for stars against Steve Cohen: You&#8217;re competing with someone who does not particularly care about short-term profit and loss from this specific enterprise. <\/p>\n<p>The biggest flashpoint in the conversation about human rights was the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"669\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1241241062.jpg?resize=1024%2C669&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Dustin Johnson reportedly was paid $ 125 million to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.\" class=\"wp-image-22636293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1241241062.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1241241062.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Dustin Johnson reportedly was paid $ 125 million to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">PA Images via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As it pertains to golf, the PGA Tour is between a rock and a hard place here.  In all likelihood, they will continue to lose players to LIV Golf.  As they draw a hard line against golfers who play in the Saudi-backed league, they will see the star power of their own tournaments dwindle. <\/p>\n<p>Even if they reverse course and open the floodgates, allowing players to compete for both tours, it is presumable that these players, awash in money due to the new competition, are going to pick and choose which PGA Tour tournaments they compete in.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, the very existence of LIV Golf threatens the competitive depth of the PGA Tour, however they proceed from here.<\/p>\n<p>LIV Golf held its debut tournament outside London this past weekend.<\/p>\n<p>For obvious reasons, golfers have been a major proxy in this debate about the ethics of doing business with the Saudis. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/phil-mickelson-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Phil Mickelson reacts during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational\" class=\"wp-image-22637797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/phil-mickelson-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/phil-mickelson-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/phil-mickelson-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/phil-mickelson-2.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption>Phil Mickelson reacts during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nonetheless, it bears mentioning that President Biden, who called Saudi Arabia a \u201cpariah\u201d when he took office, has done an about-face as the world faces an energy supply crisis partly attributable to Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n<p>Last week, CNN reported that the White House is seeking a \u201creset\u201d in its relationship with Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rick Reilly thinks of Dustin Johnson like the scarecrow in \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d &#8211; a man without a brain. Reilly, the legendary former Sports Illustrated writer, wrote a scathing entry on his Facebook page aimed at Phil Mickelson that caught Johnson with a ricochet shot. &#8220;Don&#8217;t blink. These are perilous times in golf. The &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/not-sure-he-knows-where-saudi-arabia-is\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Not sure he knows where Saudi Arabia is&#8217;<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[15466,2966,3452,8138,295],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/newspress-collage-22635780-1655142738042.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1655128462&w=1024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49178"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}