A Primer on Sportswashing in Golf (ft. Will Bardwell and Dr. Helen Lenskyj)

The Fried Egg Golf Podcast

thefriedegg.com

Golf, Sports

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2022

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is making major inroads in professional golf. It holds lucrative annual events, funds a 10-event series on the Asian Tour, and hopes to lure the world’s best male players to a proposed Super Golf League. Recently, the SGL initiative has taken a hit because of Phil Mickelson’s loose lips, but Saudi Arabia appears committed to its golf strategy, and it’s clear that the country is engaged in a practice known as “sportswashing.” As one of our guests, Dr. Helen Lenskyj, defines it, sportswashing involves “attempts on the part of authoritarian regimes to improve their tarnished global reputations through sport.” It is important for golf fans to understand this concept because the Saudis aren’t going anywhere. We have two guests today: Dr. Lenskyj, an academic researcher who focuses on the relationship between sports and global politics; and Will Bardwell, a civil rights attorney and golf writer. Time stamps: 2:49—Will Bardwell interview, part 1 13:11—Helen Lenskyj interview 30:25—Will Bardwell interview, part 2 Reading material: Will Bardwell, “Blind Men and Blood” Helen Lenskyj, The Olympic Games: A Critical Approach Check out The Fried Egg Events page on Golf Genius.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Mr. Green for example. I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset.
0:05.0	And when I find my ball in a bright egg.
0:07.0	Bright egg.
0:08.0	The dreaded bright egg.
0:09.0	Bright egg.
0:10.0	Bright egg.
0:11.0	Bright egg.
0:12.0	Bright egg lie. I'm about ready to run off the golf course course.
0:30.0	Hello and welcome to the Friday podcast. My name is Garrett Morrison. These are interesting times in the golf world.
0:43.0	As you probably know, the government of Saudi Arabia is making major inroads in professional golf.
0:49.0	Most significantly, it's funding the creation of a so-called super golf league,
0:55.0	which would pay players massive amounts of money and would pose a direct threat to the PGA tour.
1:01.0	Now, this plan has taken a hit recently because of some comments from Phil Michelson.
1:07.0	Michelson had been very involved in planning for the super golf league, but he couldn't help over explaining himself to reporters,
1:14.0	and he ended up saying some pretty shocking things and setting off a PR meltdown.
1:20.0	Big names like Bryce into Shambo and Dustin Johnson have now backed away from the Saudi league,
1:25.0	and they say they'll stay on the PGA tour for the time being.
1:29.0	But make no mistake, Saudi Arabia is not going anywhere.
1:33.0	It still has effectively unlimited financial resources to spend on its golf strategy.
1:39.0	It's still holding lucrative events like the Saudi International and the Saudi Ladies International.
1:44.0	It still has a huge investment in the Asian tour.
1:47.0	And all the inside chatter I've heard indicates that the super golf league is still going to happen in some form,
	...

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