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Saudi Arabia has extended its roots in the golfing world after the stunning merger of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. After having been involved in a civil war, LIV Golf and PGA Tour got on the same page.
Saudi Arabia's Public Fund Investment (PIF) will make the capital investment to facilitate the growth of and development of golf after they set up a new commercial entity with DP World Tour and PGA Tour.
According to CNN Business, the PIF has a net value of more than $650 billion. The Saudi government controls the Public Investment Fund, which aims to reach $1 trillion in a few years. PIF is the world's seventh-largest investment fund, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
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It has invested around $7.5 billion in several leading video game companies, has owned nine percent stakes in Electronic Arts, five percent stakes in Activision Blizzard, and many other companies.
Reportedly, when Elon Musk was planning to start Tesla in 2018, he sought funding from Saudi Arabia's PIF, which earned a few stakes in the company. PIF also helped Musk to purchase Twitter last year.
The Washington Post reported that PIF has invested $2 billion into Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's private firm.
How much has PIF invested in LIV Golf?
The PIF of Saudi Arabia reportedly invested around $2 billion in LIV Golf when the series started last year. However, the exact cost is unknown.
The PIF created the LIV Golf last year which attracted dozens of US-based PGA Tour and Europe-based DP World Tour players, which led to a civil war among golfers. Some joined the Saudi circuit while some remained on the PGA and DP Tour.
However, finally, the PGA and European Tour joined hands with LIV Golf and came together to develop golf. This again comes with criticism because the chairperson of PIF Mohammed Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, had reportedly approved the Murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as reported by US Intelligence. However, Salman denied the allegation.
The second reason why Americans have been against the PIF is the dismal human rights record of Saudi Arabia, which included political prisoners, free speech restrictions, torture, and enforced disappearances, as reported by the US State Department.
Saudi Arabia was accused to be involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack in the USA. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists involved in the attack were Saudi nationals. However, the Saudi government has denied allegations involved in the attack.
The US set a 9/11 Commission and they also could not find any evidence against Saudi Arabia.
They released a statement in 2004 which read:
"No evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials is individually funded."
Saudi International also drew criticism for their ventures in sportswashing by paying huge prize money to players.
They have thrown big dollars to big soccer players including Christiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and attracted them to the Saudi Pro League.
