News

‘Sport and politics shouldn’t mix’ – Lee Westwood defends Saudi League request

Published

4 years ago

May 4, 2022

Speaking ahead of his start at the British Masters at the Belfry, Lee Westwood confirmed what we’ve been speculating for the past few months.

He has indeed requested for a release to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Related: ‘Hypocrisy at its finest’ – Lee Westwood clashes with journalists over LPGA Saudi treatment

In his pre-tournament press conference, the former world number one defended his decision.

“People always have a problem with change and are sceptical. Change and competition are good in any walk of life.”

He also added that he believes the politics of the situation should not be an issue.

“I don’t think sport and politics should mix. The European Tour has been happy to play events in Saudi Arabia. The PGA Tour released players for that. It’s like Wimbledon banning Russian players. For what it’s worth I don’t agree with that, either.”

Westwood spoke to Sky Sports later, and expanded on the reasoning for his decision.

“It’s an opportunity to play in a big tournament and some of the best players in the world, in England, you know? I love playing in England in front of the home fans. So, you know, anytime there’s an opportunity like that, you know, I feel like I should take it.”

Westwood then reiterated what LIV Golf CEO, Greg Norman has been preaching all along.

“I’m an independent contractor that, you know, I work for myself. It’s my job and I have to do what’s right for me.”

One of the main concern from fans in regards to the LIV Golf Series is that the money being used to fund the tournaments is from the corrupt Saudi Government, to which Westwood pointed out the hypocrisy of Saudi hosting events in the past with little blowback.

“We’ve played European tour events in Saudi Arabia. I’ve had releases from the PGA Tour saying that I can go play in Saudi Arabia. So it’s it’s been no problem to them in previous years. The Formula 1 race there, Newcastle’s owned partly by people from Saudi Arabia, there’s been fights there, you know, boxing fights. I think there’s been snooker and darts here as well.”

The 49-year-old also sounded hopeful that the humans rights issues taking place in Saudi Arabia are being addressed.

“I think Saudi Arabia are obviously… they know they’ve got issues. I think you know lots of countries around the world have got issues and I think they’re trying to improve, they’re trying to do it through sport, which a lot of places, you know, a lot of countries do. I think they’re doing it a lot quicker than some countries are trying to do it and you know, that maybe worries people or scares people.”

?? "Formula One race there, Newcastle are owned by people from there, there's been boxing fights there, snooker and darts there…"

Lee Westwood speaks to Sky Sports after confirming he has asked for a release to play in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series opener ? pic.twitter.com/o900Z90BKf

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 4, 2022

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16 Comments

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Bleed Out

May 10, 2022 at 10:52 pm

Maybe the Saudis can use the bone saw on that Shipshmuck loser.

Reply Report comment
Nit Lion

May 10, 2022 at 8:22 pm

9/11/2001

Reply Report comment
Nit Lion

May 10, 2022 at 8:20 pm

On 9/11/2011 the USA suffered a terrorist attack that has changed the world. 15 of 19 terrorist hijackers were Saudis. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks when all air travel was shut down Saudi Royals were granted exemptions and allowed to leave in droves in their Saudi Royal planes.
The USA entered into 20 years wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in response to the 9/11 attacks. Somebody financed those attacks and when you stop and think about it, it is damn near impossible to not conclude Saudi Royal money financed those attacks.
The problem with the Saudi Golf Tour is that the money used to pay for these golf events comes from the same bank accounts that paid for 9/11. That should be enough for people to tell the Saudi Royals to go eat sand.

Reply Report comment
Professor

May 6, 2022 at 8:17 pm

Mr. Westwood, I’d have more respect for your position if you just came right out and said you’re doing it for the money. But to say that sports and politics don’t mix is naive. With that kind of thinking there would still be apartheid in South Africa.

Reply Report comment
Bob Jones

May 6, 2022 at 2:34 pm

But mixing sports and murder is O.K., right Lee?

Reply Report comment
jgpl001

May 6, 2022 at 4:28 am

Didn’t the Saudi’s allow women unaccompanied to drive fairly recently?, now there is equality and human rights, what more do people want….

Reply Report comment
Bill

May 5, 2022 at 10:33 am

It’s about the MONEY!
Don’t try to hide behind SPORT. When you enter the professional field it is business. One that has allowed you to acquire a net worth of $40 million.
Some have integrity. You are very happy to take the money.
I could see it if you needed the money.
Money..reputation..money..reputation?
It was your choice.

Reply Report comment
John Karl

May 5, 2022 at 8:12 am

No one has a problem with Biden begging the Saudis to pump more oil. But you cannot play golf there?

Reply Report comment
- Hopp
  
  May 5, 2022 at 8:30 am
  
  Whataboutism, more disinformation from foreign nation state.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Jerry
  
  May 5, 2022 at 11:49 am
  
  Stick your opinion right next to brains, watching brainwash tv.
  
  Reply Report comment
George Vandolder

May 4, 2022 at 10:49 pm

The PGA tour and all the manufacturers have no problems doing business with China. Where is the out cry about human rights about this? Also, the USA has over 600 military bases in 120 countries around the World. We have bombed and killed millions of foreign civilians. As Britney Spears once said “I’m not that innocent.”

Reply Report comment
- Hopp
  
  May 5, 2022 at 8:32 am
  
  What foreign nation state do you work for. Typical posts trying to deflect from the issue.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - George Vandolder
    
    May 5, 2022 at 8:49 am
    
    Not an argument Hopp!
    
    Reply Report comment
Rich

May 4, 2022 at 1:50 pm

Clownworld: When sports and bone saws mix.

Reply Report comment
Rob O'Neill

May 4, 2022 at 12:47 pm

Saudi t-rists and those who lick their marbles shouldn’t exist, Lee.

The bone saw cometh.

Reply Report comment

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News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

3 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.