Ownership of a professional sports franchise is a key means for wealth to project status and soft power. It was just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian governments decided to join the market.
Human rights and golf were rarely mentioned in the same breath until the launch last year of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour organised to challenge the PGA.
Fans, sponsors, players and PGA executives claimed to be appalled at the involvement of a country connected to 9/11 and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, among other long-standing human rights concerns.
