LIV Golf is a professional golf tour financed by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The name LIV is a reference to the Roman numeral for 54, the score if every hole on a par-72 course were birdied and the number of holes to be played at LIV events.  $25 Million purse is to be split among 48 players for each of the 8 events, with $4M guaranteed to the winner of each event. The first LIV Golf Invitational Series event started on 9 June 2022, at the Centurion Club, near London, England.

Autocrats, Plutocrats, Kings, Princes……
Men with no respect for human life
Heading brutal dictatorial regimes
Least bit worried about internal strife

Trying to buy international goodwill
Callously playing with State’s money
Petrodollars soaked in human blood
Projecting an image that is rather sunny

Using sports to whitewash their sins
Sponsoring events the West holds dear
Olympics, World Cup, Grand Prix …
Tainted reputation, unethical smear

LIV golf – the latest attempt
Garishly funded by the Saudi regime
Hoping to incent defections from PGA
Not just ordinary players, also cream

Proves the time worn adage –
everything is for sale for a price
Ethics and morality can’t compete
When the players want a rich slice

$200 Million for Mickelson!
$150 Million for Johnson!!
Make hay while the sun shines,
before the onset of rainy season!

Human rights in Saudi Arabia?
Just have to take a back seat
The money is too big, c’mon
There is no trick, all treat!

Saudi Arabia is not a pariah state
We & the world buys oil from them
We sell the latest arms to them
Business is business, dare not stem

Finance theory says a corporation’s
objective is – maximize shareholder value
We too are a one-person corporation
We are doing the same in our milieu

Venerable companies are moving to Texas
Despite Texas’ poor human-rights record*
No one calls them out, stampede continues
When it comes to $$$$s, there is no discord
(* Anti-woman, anti-minority, anti-LGBTQ, …)

Don’t paint us as hypocrites!
We are not running for Pope’s throne
Oh, wait, wait just a second, “Popedom”
too is rotten to the core, a fact well-known!

As for the worst hypocrites,
look no farther than Washington DC
Every act, every spoken word
is laced in shameless hypocrisy

We are no more “spring chicken”
Such chances don’t come often
We must get our share, whether
Saudi wealth is fair or ill-gotten.

Whether we take this money or not
We can’t change their behavior
We don’t meddle in internal affairs
We are humans, not the savior!

Let’s drink to the all mighty petro-dollar!
Long live the Saudi regime!!

Let’s observe a moment of silence in memory of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post correspondent, who was brutally murdered by the Saudis.  The USA looked the other way and didn’t “punish” the Saudi government for this dastardly act. Shame, shame and more shame!☹