Saudi Arabia, A Public Investment Fund and the LIV Tour

Linking the LIV Tour and the Saudi Arabian Investment Fund

One of the greatest civil wars in sports history is occurring at the moment, right under our noses. Not since the NBA/ABA merger have we had such a seismic shift in the way that an existing sports league is being essentially turned upside down. The upstart LIV Golf Tour (named so for the 54 holes that makeup a golf tournament) has seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and they mean business.

Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash

For the last month, they have been scalping the PGA Tour, the existing gold standard professional golf league around the world. The first big fish they landed was six-time Major Champion Phil Mickelson, followed by newer names like Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and, most recently, Brooks Koepka.

But how is this new, unproven league poaching the biggest names in the sport away from the existing, established PGA Tour? Money! These players are being offered literally hundreds of millions of dollars to join the LIV Tour, headed by former PGA great Greg Norman. Norman, currently on his press tour to legitimize his new operation, also spilled the beans on an offer rejected by Tiger Woods to join the LIV Tour. The offer? According to Norman, it was a “mind-blowingly enormous” amount of money that was “in the high nine-digits.” Essentially, Tiger turned down a $1 billion offer to do the same job with less stress. Should we all be so lucky.

But this begs the question: where the hell is the LIV Tour getting all of this money to not only offer Tiger $1 billion to join the tour, but also to pay the other golfers I mentioned cash out the ass, and pay tournament winnings every weekend? That’s where the country of Saudi Arabia comes in. Seriously.

Today, I’m going to unveil the mysterious world of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. What is it? Who runs it? And why is the fund so interested in golf? Let’s get into it.

What Is The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund?

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) is the sovereign wealth fund for the country of Saudi Arabia that allows the country to invest in “productive commercial projects that are strategically…