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LIV Golf has had to grapple with its well-documented ties to Saudi Arabia since it set out to take on the PGA Tour. One podcaster who got the chance to chat with Pat Perez understandably raised that topic during a wide-ranging conversation, but he said the organization decided to revoke the press credential it had given him after he refused to edit out those portions of the conversation.
It’s been a few years since LIV Golf kicked off its first season after poaching a number of high-profile players from the PGA Tour with the help of the virtually endless amount of money from its primary funding source: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The golfers who defected signed up knowing they’d be facing plenty of criticism by joining an organization backed by a country that’s been accused of “sportswashing” to distract from issues including its abysmal human rights record, its involvement in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and links to the terrorist who orchestrated the attacks on 9/11.
Phil Mickelson, who was more than happy to accept the $200 million he was reportedly paid to become the first major PGA Tour player to make the leap, referred to the Saudis as “scary motherf—kers” in an interview where he pointed to their culpability in Khashoggi’s murder in 2022.
He’s just one of the many golfers who’ve thrown morality to the wind for the chance to land a massive bag, and while the league’s links to Saudi Arabia are no longer a huge topic of conversation due to how much they’ve been discussed over the first four seasons of existence, it’s still a somewhat uncomfortable issue that people who cover LIV Golf are more than justified in bringing up when they discuss it.
A Michigan-based podcaster named Bill Hobson recently decided to do exactly that while chatting with one player-turned-commentator, and we’ve been treated to a textbook case of the Streisand Effect thanks to the fallout.
LIV Golf revoked a podcaster’s press credential after overreacting to his decision to ask Pat Perez some questions about the league’s ties to Saudi Arabia
LIV Golf will officially wrap up its season when it hosts its Team Championship tournament at The Cardinal at Saint John’s in Plymouth, Michigan this week.
Bill Hobson, who runs Michigan Golf Live and hosts a podcast on the Fore Golfers Network, got the chance to talk with Pat Perez ahead of that event for an approximately 25-minute interview that was published earlier this week.
Hobson prefaced that episode by candidly stating he has been “anti-LIV since it started” due to the source of its funding. He was similarly transparent with Perez and gave him a couple of opportunities to chime in on that controversial aspect during a conversation that never came close to becoming contentious, as the 49-year-old golfer seemed more than happy to address them.
However, according to The Detroit News, Hobson subsequently found himself hounded by members of LIV Golf’s public relations arm, who hounded him to edit out those portions of the interview before revoking the credential he’d received to attend the final event of the season as a member of the media after he declined to do so (he was given the opportunity to attend as a regular guest but did not accept it).
Hobson shared his side of the story in a lengthy video where he said a member of LIV Golf’s PR team told him Perez was “livid” about being “ambushed” by questions about Saudi Arabia, noting the subject of the interview happily answered them and told him he didn’t have any issues in text messages in the wake of the discussion.
LIV Golf issued a statement in an attempt to justify the decision, saying:
“LIV Golf values open and honest dialogue with media partners and has welcomed a wide range of perspectives since our inception. We are committed to working with journalists who approach interviews with fairness, integrity, and respect for the players and the sport.”
At this point, the league has still failed to come close to attracting the level of interest you’d expect from a venture the Saudis have poured billions of dollars into, and it’s certainly not doing itself any favors on the PR front with petty moves like this.