Opinion | The Senate and the golf deal

But then came a golden opportunity for Congress to demonstrate that it does care about Saudi Arabia’s abysmal human rights record: the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Suddenly, there’s a need for Senate hearings on the proposed merger and to bring representatives of the 9/11 families to Washington to express their public outrage over the possible deal.

But, in the world of U.S. golf, isn’t the issue of the PGA Tour’s dubious tax-exempt status of more significance? Yes, of course it is. But Congress won’t score many points for addressing that. What will pay off is a very public expression of outrage over a possible PGA deal.

Robin Broadfield, Washington

The feeling of hitting a putt and knowing it will drop before it falls into the cup. The satisfaction of the driver hitting the ball squarely in the club’s face. Emotions such as these are what keep me, a 14-year-old, and many other amateur golfers playing the game. With the proposed merger of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, I fear young golfers, including me, will turn away from the sport and that golf will lose popularity. As Saudi Arabia’s reign over golf grows, the reputation of the game will deteriorate. Who wants to be a part of the game run by the country where most of those responsible for 9/11 were from and that ordered the killing of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi? A game whose best players compete for blood money?

As Aaron Blake pointed out in his July 12 The Fix column online, “PGA hearing spotlights helpless attitude toward sportswashing, Saudis,” sportswashing has become commonplace in U.S. sports from golf to soccer — and now even D.C.’s basketball and hockey teams, and no one seems willing to fight it, not even Congress. But they must. In the Senate hearing I attended last week, senators had differing opinions about the merger. I challenge Congress to pass a law preventing authoritarian governments from owning American sports teams or leagues. Otherwise, the message these commissioners and owners are sending to young players like me is that sports has nothing to do with sportsmanship.