Top guns okay with Saudi event

Shane Lowry has defended his decision to play in next month’s Saudi International, telling reporters: “I’m not a politician.”

On a conference call promoting the Asian Tour event, the Irishman was asked about recent articles, especially an editorial in the Washington Post that said players who are going to participate in the Saudi International are “accepting blood money”.

The 2019 British Open champion said: “I’m happy to go there. I’m happy to earn my living going there and going and playing good golf and hopefully win a tournament.

“I think for me as a golfer, I’m not a politician, I’ll let everyone else take care of that, and I’ll go and do my job.”

Tyrrell Hatton, who was also on the conference call, deferred to Lowry on the subject. “I’ve got nothing to add,” said the English golfer.

The Saudi International field includes major winners Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and Phil Mickelson, as well as Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.

Nearly two dozen PGA Tour members requested releases for the Saudi event which takes place the same week as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Let us please be under no illusions here and the top players will soon be heading to Saudi Arabia for the very large amount of cash on offer, which is reportedly enormous just for showing up.

Back in October last year, former world No.1 Greg Norman was named CEO of LIV Golf Investments, an entity that created a “strategic partnership” with the Asian Tour to sponsor 10 tournaments in 2022 and pump US$200 million into the circuit over the next decade.

The first is the Saudi International to be held from Feb 3-6.

The primary investor in Norman’s group is the Public Investment Fund, which is essentially the financial arm of the Saudi government.

Out of Bounds: Rory McIlroy, the four-time major champion from Northern Ireland, is making his own choice, too. McIlroy has said repeatedly that he would not play in Saudi Arabia for any price.