What do you get for the man who has everything? Saudi Arabia’s ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, is said to have a $500 million yacht, a $450 million Leonardo painting and a $300 million French château. Now he’s acquired a new bauble: American golf. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has negotiated a controlling interest in the main US golf tournament, the PGA Tour, merging it with a rival league the fund already owns, LIV Golf. There was an appalled reaction from Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was allegedly killed on MBS’s orders. She called it ‘the worst face of sportswashing’, telling journalists: ‘It shows there are no limits to what money can buy.’
Sportswashing is part of something the Saudis have been doing for years – chequebook diplomacy
Sportswashing is part of something the Saudis have been doing for years – chequebook diplomacy – though now they have a lot more money to spare and are splashing it around much more aggressively.
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