Pariahs, the lot of them. The only word for them. Unless you prefer mercenaries, or unless you want to stretch to more than one word.
Greedy, immoral, blood money-grabbing, shameless charlatans who are happy to sell their soul for dollars from a Saudi state that beheads people with impunity. Supporters of the bonesaw brigade…in crisply-ironed slacks and a logo-ed jersey.
When the likes of Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell first donned a patterned golf sweater, you can be sure they never thought the above descriptions would be attached to their like. Yet here they are. The irony of a golfer being vilified for taking cash wherever he or she can get it is beyond priceless. They have always played anywhere for dough.
It would be absolutely fantastic if the outrage over LIV Golf was based purely on the morality of getting into bed with a nation whose human rights record is deeply dubious, to say the least. We should be all for that but, of course, it is not. A lot of it is based on the threat to the structure of the professional golf circuit, namely the all-powerful PGA Tour and its European partner - albeit very much a junior partner - the DP World Tour.
But the fact this threat comes from Saudi Arabia is a bona fide reason to be vehemently opposed to it. And make no mistake, we SHOULD be against it. But how come the likes of Poulter and Westwood are being demonised while Lewis Hamilton - sorry, Sir Lewis Hamilton - and Anthony Joshua are national treasures?
They don’t just take the Saudi cash, they perform in the chop-chop specialists’ back garden. Hamilton is a beacon of morality and a great spokesman for a whole variety of worthy campaigns but he still races in Saudi.
He might say he is contractually obliged but would Mercedes really sack him if he refused to drive in Jeddah? As for Joshua, when it comes to not caring about the Saudi regime, he is a confirmed member. Yet no-one bats an eyelid.
Then, we have Newcastle United. Briefly, Eddie Howe was given a bit of flak but, now, many people are talking about him as the next England manager? I’ve got no time for whataboutery. Just because someone else is willing to ignore the horrors of the Saudi regime in exchange for untold riches doesn’t mean you should do the same.
But the DP World Tour, that is banning members from its competitions, sanctioned an event in Saudi and sports such as Formula One, football and boxing have shamelessly paved the way for what is happening in golf.
So, while it is heinous that Henrik Stenson is prepared to forego what is supposed to be one of the greatest honours in European golf - the Ryder Cup captaincy (although it is a relatively recent honour) - for bucketloads of Saudi money, he is hardly going down an untrodden path.
When Saudi sportswashing successfully tempted boxers, motor racing drivers and footballers - amongst others - and no-one, not one governing body, including the Premier League, took a meaningful stand, it gave them carte blanche to bludgeon their way into other sports.
It is golf, right now, it might be, say, tennis next. Yes, these guys who are filling their wheelbarrows with filthy LIV lucre deserve to be demonised. But they are only treading a well-worn path that spineless sports authorities have allowed to be built.
