U.S. military veterans question proposed partnership between the PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia

No three words are more overused in golf than “grow the game.”

While the intended outcome is admirable, it’s not always honest. The phrase has been co-opted by various organizations and leagues within the game, especially those involved in the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf. At the same time the future of the game was being discussed in a U.S. Senate hearing on the proposed deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, 96 players and 430 volunteers were actually growing the game instead of speaking about doing so.

The 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open at Pinehurst No. 6 is the second playing of the USGA’s newest championship which puts disabled golfers in the spotlight and provides them the opportunity to showcase their talent in a national open they deserve. After the second round, former U.S. military veterans who were wounded in service of their country questioned whether or not the proposed deal with the Kingdom is the best way to, as they often say, grow the game.

“It’s one of those things, they’re trying to grow the game, and I don’t know if that’s the right way to go about it,” said Chad Pfeifer, who is competing in the leg impairment category after he lost his left leg in 2007 while serving for the U.S. Army in Iraq. “I feel like there’s other, better ways to grow the game of golf.”

Such as, for example, creating a foundation with other disabled golfers that aims to get more disabled people and adults involved in the game through clinics or by providing equipment for those in need. That’s exactly what Adam Benza, Kenny Bontz, Kellie Valentine and Pfeifer did with their foundation, Moving Foreward.

“Look here this week,” said Pfeifer. “Hopefully a lot of people see this and they’re inspired and maybe pick up the game of golf. There’s just a lot of other ways you can grow the game of golf.”

Due to Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the attacks on 9/11 to the Kingdom’s wide-ranging human rights abuses – which include politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners – LIV Golf had long been criticized as another way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its reputation through the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars.

At first, Larry Celano wasn’t too bothered by LIV Golf or the Tour’s decision to sign a framework agreement with the PIF, “because it’s not my war.” The Arizona native was wounded during the invasion of Panama on Dec. 22, 1989, as a member of the U.S. Army in the 82nd Airborne Division and sustained an L1-L2 spinal cord injury due to gunshot wounds. He retired in June of 1990 and was awarded the Purple Heart. He also started the Seated Golfers Association, of which he serves as the president.

“What (Saudi Arabia) did, the money’s not good money,” said Celano, who also noted the lengths to which corporate America has accepted Saudi investment. “I don’t want the money now because my friend opened my eyes to realize how they treat people.”

Maybe it’s time for those claiming to grow the game to listen to the people who are actively doing it.