The Saudi Public Investment Fund signed Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson to their LIV golf tournament for a combined fee of £340m.
That’s the same as Newcastle United cost them… St James’ Park, 52,000 season ticket holders, £120m Premier League TV cash a year, and all. Around £340m would buy 12 Sven Botman's or 28 Matt Targett's, or ten Hugo Ekitike’s - their immediate transfer targets.
As Mickelson and Johnson hack around a field in Hemel Hempstead, with only a handful of freeloaders watching, and 100,000 max at one time on YouTube, it is golf, and not Newcastle United… yet…. that is seeing the Saudi cash disrupting the status quo. Newcastle United and PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan has paid a handsome premium for the privilege of teeing up alongside his heroes on Wednesday in the pro-am.
