Tiger Woods Declines $800 Million

It’s Thursday, August 4. Welcome to the News Diet. Today I’m gonna talk about Tiger Woods turning down an $800 million offer, the Senate approval for Finland and Sweden to join NATO, the unexpected dealth of Congresswoman Jackie Walorsky, and also Biden’s executive order on women’s access to obtain abortions. Let’s be informed so we can get on with our day.

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It was confirmed that Tiger Woods turned down somewhere between a $700-800 million offer to join the new golf tour called LIV. LIV is a direct competitor to the PGA, which is the long standing North American based tour. The PGA has been one of the only options for the world’s best golfers to compete - until now. The LIV tour is backed by Saudi Arabia, and offers golfers a lot more money, to actually play less, and is also said to offer a level of entertainment not historically associated with the golf world. The biggest factor though is the money - just to give a sense of how much is involved here, Charl Schwartzel, who made the jump to play in the LIV Series, made more money in his first tournament with them than in the last four years in the PGA. And the last place winner of the same 48 person tournament, still went home with a prize of $120,000. Over the course of its eight event season, the tour is said to be giving out $255 million in prize money. So it’s essentially guaranteed money for those who choose to play.

Creating a competitor to the PGA is a big deal, so they’ve been putting a lot of effort into recruiting high profile figures to join and already some top players have made the jump. Tiger Woods though turned down his high nine figure offer, saying that he doesn’t get the appeal of competing when there’s guaranteed prizes, and also he considers the move dangerous considering that joining LIV potentially means burning bridges with the PGA. In fact, those who have joined so far have already received suspensions, which means they might not be eligible to play in the world’s largest and more prestigious tournaments. 

It’s said that Saudi Arabia is looking for ways to grow their GDP outside of oil, and that the sports industry has been a focus for them. Outside of the $2 billion they’ve invested into entering the golf game, they’ve also deployed $600 million into Formula 1, and also $400 million in English soccer club Newcastle United.

Now, outside of the controversy surrounding loyalty, players making the jump are also receiving backlash for joining a tour backed by a country known for human rights abuses. Saudi Arabia has been known to torture or kill dissenters and journalists and also for their oppressive treatment of women. Some say this should be a deal breaker for many considering joining, but others think this isn’t any worse than sports teams that take sponsorships from bad actors or have their merchandise manufactured in countries that also engage in abuse.

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The Senate has approved a resolution to add nordic countries Finland and Sweden to NATO. NATO is the military alliance that agrees to back fellow members should they be attacked by outside parties. After Russia invaded Ukraine, who is not a member, the world saw how little NATO was able to help. This is because should any member get officially involved, then that could start a much larger conflict, which obviously everyone wants to avoid. So, the aid to Ukraine has largely been limited to some equipment and money, but no boots on the ground. This has proven to be a big disadvantage to Ukraine, who is outnumbered greatly by the Russian military. So seeing the outcome here, Finland and Sweden, who are normally known for remaining neutral in times of conflict, now want to join the alliance. They’re both located close to Russia, and Putin has warned of similar fates for them should they try to join. So they and NATO have been trying to expedite their applications to ensure their protection. 

They were formally invited to join in June and now all of the legislatures of member countries are voting to ratify as every member has to approve. In the US, both House and Senate lawmakers overwhelmingly supported their application. In the Senate, there was only 1 out 100 Senators that voted no, which was Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. His reason was that he felt the US should focus its defense resources on American conflicts, as opposed to expanding the net of those we would be responsible for throughout the world. Regardless, it looks like the US is a resounding YES for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. 

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Republican Congresswoman Jackie Walorski was involved in a head on car collision yesterday, where she was killed along with two aides in the car with her, as well as the driver of the other vehicle. She was 58 years old and leaves behind a husband. Walorski served in the House since 2013 representing Indiana’s Second Congressional District, and was also the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee. 

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Ever since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, President Biden has been looking for ways to reinstate women’s rights to get an abortion. He would like to codify it into law but with such a divided Congress, that’s unlikely for the time being. So instead he’s looking at means within his own power, and yesterday issued an executive order that calls on Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to ensure that standing federal laws be followed for women crossing state lines to receive abortions, as well as for more research, data collection, and analysis into the outcomes from the overturning of Roe.

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It’s Thursday, August 4. And you’ve just been informed. Now it’s time to get on with your day. I’m Michele Carroll. Thanks so much for listening.

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/2022/08/03/liv-golf-players-sue-pga-tour-challenge-suspensions/10226922002/

https://www.cbssports.com/golf/news/2022-fedex-cup-playoffs-rickie-fowler-headlines-golfers-facing-high-stakes-at-wyndham-championship/

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/sport/tiger-woods-liv-golf-offer-norman-spt-intl/index.html

https://sports.yahoo.com/suspended-players-walked-away-tour-193141441.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuGBJOq_aCI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jm0xz3VhVk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIV_Golf

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Walorski#Personal_life_and_death 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/us/politics/jackie-walorski.html 

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https://www.businessinsider.com/senate-votes-in-favor-adding-finland-and-sweden-to-nato-2022-8

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3587073-hawley-is-only-senator-to-vote-against-finland-sweden-nato-membership/ 

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https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/03/politics/joe-biden-abortion-executive-order/index.html

https://www.axios.com/2022/08/03/biden-second-executive-order-abortion-travel

https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-signs-executive-order-to-aid-women-crossing-state-lines-for-abortions