OLIVER HOLT: Everything we were told we should hate about LIV, we will now be told is wonderful

Every flimsy hope that dumb idealists harbored that the PGA Tour’s stance against Saudi Arabian-owned LIV Golf had anything to do with a last vestige of principle in the sport exploded into a few billion pieces of silver.

It’s about the money, idiot. It’s always about the money.

It is also about empty words. The empty words of hollow men like Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, who once scorned those who would take blood money from a regime up to his neck in human rights violations. And who jumped into bed with it.

Monahan deserves some credit for his front, I think. The same goes for Keith Pelley, the CEO of the DP World Tour.

If they can look their members in the eye after this astonishing upheaval, then they have a strict disposition indeed. The corner of Monahan is especially spectacular. It was not long ago that he condemned the defectors to LIV Gulf in emotional terms, calling out Saudi involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and saying that “as far as the families of 9/11 are concerned, I have two families that are close together’. for me who have lost loved ones, so my heart goes out to them’.

Rory McIlroy was admired for his anti-LIV stance and took issue with his opposition

Newcastle United has turned into a fawning vassal state (above: Yasir Al-Rumayyan, left)

I wonder how those families feel about Monahan now?

Everything we’ve been told to hate LIV we’ll be told now is great. Everything we were told was dirty, filthy, tasteless, mercenary and shameful about LIV, now we are told this is the way to grow into the game.

The R&A released a statement saying they were looking forward to working with the “new entity,” making the merged PGA and LIV tours sound like something out of Revenge of the Sith. Which was appropriate.

The rest of us will just have to put up with that sickening feeling in our stomachs about a sport whose leadership has abated all responsibility for anything other than raking in money. However, there is no point in wringing by hand. That’s how it once was.

A penny to the minds of some of the high profile golfers who resisted the riches LIV had to offer because Monahan told them they owed it to the game not to overflow.

A penny for the thoughts of Rory McIlroy, too, who was so admired for his eloquent stance against LIV and who fled in opposition. Where is he in this?

The reality is that golf is just the latest domino to fall in Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning effort to use sport to siphon off its abuses, its mass executions, its treatment of women and its crushing freedom of speech.

Newcastle United have already turned into an obedient, rambling vassal state, but even the section of the fanbase that likes to call themselves the Saudi Mags may now be starting to realize that they are a toy, a pawn in a much, much bigger game.

The merger shows that it has always been about money (above: LIV CEO Greg Norman, right)

LIV Golfers pictured ahead of their second season start in Mayakoba, Mexico in February

Golf is latest domino to fall in Saudi Arabia’s bid to use sport to siphon off its abuses

Sports washing is in fashion. Bloody regimes are associated with beautiful football and beautiful footballers. Now it will be inseparable from all of golf’s wonderful showpieces and all of its best players.

Saudi blood money is buying up the sport and the pace of takeovers is accelerating. Cristiano Ronaldo has been bought to play in the Saudi league, as has Karim Benzema, the reigning Ballon d’Or holder. Perhaps Lionel Messi will be next now that he has left Paris Saint-Germain.

The answer to the question of where sport goes from here seems to be: where Saudi Arabia and its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, want to go.

Sport is open to the highest bidder and that usually means a repressive Gulf state.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, which owns Newcastle, announced earlier this week that it is taking control of four of the kingdom’s top football clubs, including Al Nassr, Ronaldo’s side. It now owns 75 percent of Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Al Nassr and Al Hilal.

More and more stars, lured by extravagant salaries like those of Ronaldo and Benzema, are likely to move to the Saudi Professional League and more and more clubs are likely to come under the influence of the Saudis.

As for the Premier League, two of the top four – Manchester City and Newcastle – are already in the hands of repressive petrostates. The fate of Manchester United is unknown.

However, the direction of travel is clear. Just follow the money.