It is time to call out the bias of some of the golf media, you are damaging this sport

Jon Rahm tees off at LIV Golf Riyadh / LIV Golf

Just over 11 years ago I had a meeting which until now I have never discussed publicly. I met with a senior member of Newsquest, the UK subsidiary of Gannet Media, to discuss St Andrews Golf Magazine, which is now SHANK. We met at The Saint on South Street in St Andrews, and discussed the plan for the magazine. I won't identify the gentleman, but he was interested in acquiring St Andrews Golf Magazine as Newsquest and Gannett did not have a golf title in their portfolio.

He was impressed by what had been achieved to date and the vision for a golf publication which focused on local golf, along with covering the worldwide game. At the time we had instruction from a local golf professional, and other content which made it an appealing proposition. Unfortunately also at the time the ownership and vision for the future of St Andrews Golf Magazine was being contested by my co-owner, Newsquest would look to acquire more than 60% of the company, and the uncertainty of the situation regarding its ownership meant the Newsquest interest did not come to anything.

A huge opportunity missed. 18 months later Gannett acquired Golfweek, a US-based weekly golf magazine and website, and it became a part of their USA TODAY Sports Network. USA TODAY Sports became a Marketing Partner of the PGA TOUR in 2014, which meant that Golfweek would become the outlet for that partnership.

I am very much aware of how media and Marketing Partnerships work, having established a short-lived media partnership with the World Hickory Open Championship in 2014. We provided content in advance of the Championship, covering the event on our website and social media channels, before reviewing the event in a future edition of the magazine. That was low level stuff, but the principles of impartiality, honesty and discretion guided the coverage. Media should never cross the line from reporting, analysing and discussing, into cheerleading and doing the work of an organisation, and that is where the USA TODAY Sports/Golfweek Marketing Partnership has crossed the line.

Golfweek should be open, honest and transparent, and they are not. Nowhere on the Golfweek website does it clearly display or state that they are Marketing Partners of the PGA TOUR, the below screenshot is from the PGA TOUR's website in the section where it lists Marketing Partners.

Golfweek is part of USA TODAY Sports Media Group, owned by Gannett Co., Inc.

Since 2022, and the launch of LIV Golf, their journalists have produced article after article criticising LIV Golf, Saudi Arabia and the players who have decided to join the start-up League. That in itself is fair enough, if merited, and if balanced by reporting on LIV Golf events, along with other events in the golf ecosystem. Over the course of the last four days LIV Golf has played its first event of the 2026 season at Riyadh Golf Club, with Elvis Smylie shooting a final round of 64 to win the tournament by 1 shot from Jon Rahm. Official World Golf Ranking Points were on the line for the first time, and they played 72 holes for the first time. All are newsworthy items, yet what did Golfweek cover?

Absolutely nothing. Yes, Golfweek never reports on LIV Golf events, but they do find the time to put together a truly ludicrous article titled LIV Golf is now old, but still insignificant. Is the dream finally dead?

The article was published following the conclusion of the event in Riyadh, and is illustrated by a photo of Jon Rahm looking across the 8th green during the third round of the tournament. Its author is a golf journalist who I respect immensely. Nick Rodger has been a golf writer for the last quarter of a century, largely for the Glasgow Herald (owned by Newsquest) and more recently freelance. I have worked at several events which he has also been accredited for and he is a friendly, pleasant person to be around, as I have been at every Alfred Dunhill Links Championship since 2013, and several other events including 3 Women's Opens and the 2019 Solheim Cup.

I admire him as a journalist in this sport, but on this occasion I have to highlight the clear bias of his article, and the timing of its publication. The title is likely the responsibility of the editor, but firstly to say LIV Golf is now old is absolutely ridiculous. LIV Golf is beginning its fifth season, people are still discovering it on TV and in person. Ask the good people of South Australia next week if LIV Golf is old?

Apparently LIV Golf is still insignificant. It can be credibly argued that it has never been more significant than it was this week, with OWGR points being awarded. LIV Golf Riyadh winner Elvis Smylie will likely move inside the top 90 of the Official World Golf Rankings after his win, and should he have high finishes or another win in the next month, he could directly qualify for The Masters due to his performances in LIV Golf events. LIV Golf is definitely not insignificant.

The headline concludes with, is the dream finally dead?

Yet more nonsense. LIV Golf has just signed a deal with Rolex, on the back of HSBC, and many of the teams have signed partnership deals, not forgetting to mention that they have at least three more years to go on their deal with the South Australian Government. LIV Golf Adelaide is set to move to Kooyonga Golf Club in 2027 and then on to the purposely redesigned North Adelaide Golf Course as the permanent home of the event.

All of the above objectively means those who hate LIV Golf are going to have to put up with it for a long while to come.

Now let us get into the meat of the article from Nick.

"Here in 2026, another LIV season got underway this week in that great golfing hotbed of, ahem, Riyadh."

I do wonder if Nick will have written the same about Dubai in 1996. 1996 is seven years after the first Dubai Desert Classic, and we are seven years on from the first edition of the Saudi International, which was Saudi Arabia's first serious foray into hosting professional golf. In 1996 Dubai could have been mocked like Nick has done here with Riyadh, now, in 2026 Dubai has 14 golf courses and golf tourism is worth more than $270million to Dubai. Dubai is now one of the most important destinations and investors in golf worldwide, with its support of the DP World Tour, and through Emirates Airline sponsorship of many golf tournaments around the world.

Riyadh and Saudi Arabia want to use golf to drive tourism and global influence, so let's check back in 30 years time to see if it has achieved that rather than mocking its current status where there are around 5,000 registered golfers. This is a long term project for the Public Investment Fund and for Golf Saudi, and to judge it now is illustrative of bias.

Nick goes on to say "The outlay on the golf project, under LIV chairman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, is estimated at $6 billion. It’s an extraordinary amount for, essentially, a series of exhibitions devoid of any competitive relevance."

Firstly, the reason that LIV Golf has not had "any competitive relevance" since its inception in 2022 is the war waged on them by the establishment tours, primarily the PGA TOUR, and marketing partners such as USA TODAY Sports and Golfweek. It has taken LIV Golf nearly five years to be awarded Official World Golf Ranking points, but with the awarding of OWGR status, every LIV Golf event becomes relevant.

You could argue that the headline for Nick's article is nothing more than Clickbait, because unusually for one of Scotland's most respected golf writers, the article lacks substance, and detail, but gives Golfweek what they want. Yet another article bashing LIV Golf, not an impartial and detailed report on the first LIV Golf event of 2026, where a talented young Australian claimed the biggest win of his career to launch a season which promises to be exciting, dynamic and global.

The bias against LIV Golf and for the PGA TOUR doesn't start and end with written media though, it began and is thriving among the PGA TOUR's Broadcast Partners, primarily though on the Golf Channel. A clear illustration of that came this week with the ludicrous promotion of The Players Championship. The PGA TOUR launched its television advertising for next month's Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass - March is Major. Yes, they said the quiet part out loud. They have finished the debate in their head, they are telling the world that their championship is a Major Championship, but the advert was never going to be enough, they needed a mouthpiece to amplify their message. Step forward the Golf Channel and its Chief mouth, the mouth otherwise known as Brandel Chamblee.

"The Players, to me, stands alone and above the other four major championships as not just a major, it is in my estimation, the best major."

Brandel Chamblee has said some outrageous things, questionable things and downright biased things in recent years, but this is all of the above and more.

Golf Channel shows more than the PGA TOUR, including the DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, LPGA and Ladies European Tour, as well as amateur and college golf. But it would be a fair question to ask, why don't they rebrand themselves as PGA TOUR+? They have long since ceased being a channel dedicated to covering golf, because if they were still that they would absolutely bid for and get the US rights to LIV Golf.

Golf Channel aren't alone in their blind bias towards the tour which they broadcast, almost all the other PGA TOUR rights holders across the US and UK are the same, and it is damaging the sport. It is causing division and hatred when it need not be there. Golf has evolved over decades, and tours and events have come and gone, and I am old enough to remember Sky losing the UK rights to Setanta, and then spending three years absolutely smashing the PGA TOUR for the courses it plays on and the events which it stages, not to mention the one-dimensional golfers it produces. Suddenly when Setanta collapsed and Sky regained the rights all was forgotten and forgiven, and now they worship the ground Jay Monahan and Brian Rolapp walk on.

Contrast the situation with media and the PGA TOUR, and media and the NFL.

The American Football equivalent of Golf Channel is the NFL Network, and that Network does exactly what it says on the tin, it does not pretend to be covering all of the sport and it does not. You would never see the UFL on NFL Network, but other rights holders of NFL games are not restricted in the same way as those who broadcast the PGA TOUR seemingly.

FOX have been one of the principal partners of the NFL for more than 30 years, but when they started broadcasting the XFL and more recently the UFL they weren't blacklisted and haven't had their NFL contract torn up.

This sport needs media to promote the sport, and help it grow around the world as it benefits everyone if that happens. This sport is far too big and important to become a major league of US Sport, and the media need to tell stories about the sport with integrity, honesty and without bias. Some of our media are failing in all three.

SHANK, by Matt Hooper