This weekend’s LIV Golf tournament has attracted many big-name players as it tries to get off the ground. However, the upstart tour’s connection to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund has many fans and media questioning these players’ decision.
As the players met the media for the first time ahead of the tournament, one member of the media didn’t hold back on questions to Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
“If Vladimir Putin had a tournament, would you play that?” the reporter asked.
Ian Poulter declined to answer the question, citing speculation.
“That’s speculation, I’m not going to comment on speculation,” he said.
The media member then turned Lee Westwood and posed a slightly different question:
“I mean, would you have played in Apartheid South Africa, for example?” he asked.
Westwood chose to follow Poulter’s path and not answer the question.
“You’re just asking us to answer a hypothetical question there,” he said. “We can’t answer a question on that.”
Poulter and Westwood are just two prominent golfers playing in LIV’s Golf’s inaugural tournament in London this weekend, which also includes Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. The new tour is attempting to form a rival to the PGA Tour, where the tournaments are shorter, have less participants and are worth more money.
