Golf merger with Saudis ignites outrage

After demonizing professional golfers as being unconcerned about human rights when they took hundreds of millions of dollars to play for Saudi-backed LIV Golf, PGA officials announced plans to merge with LIV in exchange for some of that same Saudi cash. In announcing the deal last week, the PGA officials did not repeat their earlier attacks on Saudi Arabia over the 9/11 terrorist attacks or the grisly murder of a Washington Post journalist. Players who remained loyal to the PGA had no say in the deal or even any advance notice of it.

Class discussion: Did the PGA behave ethically with its players or the families of 9/11 victims it used in its campaign against LIV? Is money far more important than morality to many business and political leaders? Some irate golf fans talked about boycotting the PGA. Do boycotts or economic sanctions really stop the world’s so-called “bad actors?” Why are U.S. companies eager to do business with many nations which ignore human rights? Do you care if you buy goods made in a country with leaders abusing many of their people? Why or why not?