AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National Golf Club was very pleased to display a photo of its Masters Champions Dinner Tuesday night on social media for all the world to see. Thirty-four men in green jackets, decades worth of Masters champions surrounding club chairman Fred Ridley, all of them smiling for the camera enjoying a celebration of the most famous brotherhood in golf.
You know who else was especially thrilled to see that photo spreading across the globe?
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the mastermind of the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, as well as his golf-bro buddies in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the nation responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States nearly 22 years ago and the abysmal human rights violations against women and the LGBTQ community in particular to this day.
Six men who left the world of real golf tournaments to go into business with bin Salman and the Saudis in exhibition-style LIV Golf were conspicuously present in that photo: Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel. They were interspersed with golfers they have been fighting and arguing with for months, if not face to face, certainly in interviews, on social media and in the occasional legal document.
But all apparently is forgiven now. This was a picture of happiness, of harmony, of guys who all appeared to be friends again. This was Augusta National, the public face of golf, the best-known club on earth, welcoming bin Salman’s boys with open arms.
More: What happened at the Masters Champions Dinner 2023? Fuzzy Zoeller and others give us the dirt
Live Leaderboard: Latest Masters Tournament Scores, Schedules, Pairings and more
It also was a picture of something else: Sportswashing. That photo is the textbook definition of the word. By allowing the six Masters champions who escaped to LIV, and the 12 other LIV golfers who met the qualifications to be in the 88-player field, Augusta National has done something both historic and repulsive: it is legitimizing, even dignifying, LIV Golf.
In one photo, it has given the Saudis and LIV Golf much more than they ever could have hoped for when they set off to careen through the staid game of golf. It has not only given LIV Golf a publicity shot for the ages. It has given the silly, no-cut circuit an undeniable sign of respect.
I asked Ridley about this Wednesday morning at his annual press conference. My…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…