British Open was Golf at Its Best; LIV Golf is Human Nature at Its Worst
By Ken Reed
Cameron Smith won an exhilarating British Open golf tournament at the home of golf, St. Andrews, on Sunday, outdueling crowd favorite Rory McIlroy, and young stars Cameron Young and Viktor Hovland. It was compelling theater as the four elite golfers pursued the world’s biggest golf title.
But now, the beauty that was a week at St. Andrews, will be blemished by the resumption of the LIV exhibition golf tour, where golfers like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau will go back to pursuing dollars at all costs. Those four, and several others, will leave Scotland to resume their new jobs as high-priced PR agents for a murderous Saudi Arabian regime that has committed numerous human rights atrocities, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered by a bone saw, according to American intelligence services.
The LIV Tour is funded by the Public Investment Fund, a PR arm of the government of Saudi Arabia. According to U.S. intelligence experts, Khashoggi was murdered on the orders of crown prince Mohammed bin Salmon, who heads the Public Investment Fund, which signs the checks for Mickelson, et al.
Instead of the LIV Tour, it should be called the Sellout Tour. Apparently, Mickelson and the other LIV golfers (read: Saudi PR agents) are willing to do anything, for anyone, if the money is right. They are nothing more than paid advocates for a government with a despicable human rights record. They have sold their souls and golf legacies to help the Saudis in a reputation-laundering scheme. Their true characters have been revealed. In effect, by signing on the LIV dotted line, these golfers gave their stamp of approval to the abusive and murderous actions of their new bosses.
The terrific golf action and sportsmanship on display at The Open at St. Andrews this past weekend was a welcome break from the greed-at-all-costs ugliness that is the LIV Tour.
But now, sadly, we must return to pro golf’s current reality, and that includes LIV Golf and probably more sellouts signing up to receive blood money.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
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Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
Books