LIV golfers, pro-Ukrainian invasion tennis players?

It’s time to break out your best polo shirts and catch up on the latest trends in the stock market because we’re going to the country club. The Masters is next week and Wimbledon is a few months away, but we have news from both, and I don’t want to write two separate stories, so we’ll combine and link them together. No, I’m not talking about home invasions in the suburbs. I’m talking about the villains — specifically, who are we rooting for more: the LIV golfers at Augusta or the Russian and Belarusian players at the All England Club?

The answer seems simple until you look at the details, so let’s do it.

LIV golfers at the Masters

Cameron Smith, the No. 2 golfer in the world before defecting to the Saudi Tour and his ranking plummeted, he will be among the 18 LIV golfers to top the Masters next week. There are were the stories of golfers and pundits about the Saudi Twe are not real golf, and they are right.

The new league has only 14 events this season, all of which are 54 holes. There are no cuts on any of them. I have no idea what the format is from course to course, and there are teams.

Well, all that chatter has Smith’s knickers in a heap and he’s really pissed. Not sure if Australians say that, so just read the quote.

“Most of us will get four cracks this year [in the majors], and hopefully we might win. Maybe we’re just showing a lot of effort,” Smith said interview on Thursday. “I think for us, internally, there’s a lot of chatter about ‘these guys don’t play real golf anymore.’ And I think that’s BS to be honest. And we just want to show people that.”

Of all the crap being said about LIV golf and its members, that’s what you’re mad about? People wondering if a tour with less weekend action than the college football season is “real golf”? I don’t know about you, but I’d be more pissed off about people calling me a soulless chum bucket because I traded my integrity for blood money.

This just goes to show how insular golfers really are, and that’s not surprising given that their lives involve going from exclusive golf course to exclusive golf course seeking the approval of the bunch white men in their 60s.

Russians and Belarusians at Wimbledon

The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club confirmed on Friday that it has lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian players from Wimbledon. The move was made shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the participation of athletes from supporting countries remains a controversial topic.

That’s why Wimbledon put there are some limitations. Players from Russia and Belarus will have to play as neutral and cannot support the invasion. Also, anyone receiving Russian and Belarusian funding, including state-backed sponsorships, will be banned.

Okay, great. Easy enough, right? So, the tennis players who appear at the beginning of July will be adequately cleared of any ties to the countries currently occupying Ukrainians. As long as they give the correct answers – the ones the All England Club just gave them – they’re good to go.

Call me naive, but it seems like it would be pretty easy to just lie to get in. “Oh, all I have to do is tick the appropriate boxes and I’ll be allowed back into the biggest Grand Slam of the year? Show me what to do and where to sign.”

However, there is a large amount of ambiguity when it comes to Russian and Belarusian athletes. If only every fan were as open minded as the Russian gymnast/zealot they are at the bottom he greeted Vladimir Putin at the medal standit would be safe to root against any and all who represent Mother Russia or her stupid sidekick.

It’s easy to say “Give up your government” when your family is out of Putin’s reach. There are probably many Russians and Belarusians who are horrified by the actions of their countries’ leaders, but speaking out means risking their relative disappearing.

Answer to the article

If the only way to know which tennis player to root for is to know how each individual stands in Ukraine — which we don’t know and won’t be able to know for sure — it’s really hard to paint them all with the same broad brush we do for LIV golfers.

Is accepting Saudi money worse than supporting the invasion of Ukraine? I won’t play that game I’d rather you. Disappointing how can it be (i’m not sorry) if you’re looking for a villain to root against alongside Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Smith and Co., look no further than the tournament organizers themselves.

Augusta was never going to ban LIV golf because it has them too many big names. And although Wimbledon is trying to do the right thing, your usual cynic can poke holes in the laws. There’s no way to get the answers they’re looking for, but that hasn’t stopped them from finding a way to bring the world’s best players to center court.

So the real villain here is, as always, the greedy capitalists.