Why golf isn't Formula 1
I mean, there's lots of reasons but stick with me here.
One thing I inexplicably left out of my list of “Good Things To Come Out of the Pandemic” was my discovery of Formula 1 racing. Like most, this came from me watching the Netflix series “Drive To Survive,” but it truly persisted into the season. I watched every race. I played fantasy F1. I subscribe to an F1 podcast. I follow a shockingly high number of F1 and F1 adjacent folks on Instagram.
In short, I’m in. And that’s weird because as a pretty serious sports fan, I’ve been stuck with the Big Three (football, baseball, basketball) for basically my whole life. I’ve tried, in vain, to expand this - I tried to get into English Premier League, and hockey, and probably something else I’m forgetting because it just didn’t stick.
But F1 grabbed me - mostly because it’s so damn good on TV, and there’s only a handful of drivers so it’s easy to figure out who you’re rooting for, etc.
Which is why, like many other folks, the early descriptions of this new, renegade golf league - having sets of teams, a smaller group of golfers, potentially more access (we’ll see about that) .. it sounded appealing.
Oh, and there’s one more thing in common: Saudi Arabia.
The issue many of us have with this renegade golf league is that it’s state sponsored, by a country fairly well documented to be abhorrent with human rights (that is, you know, if you consider chopping up journalists with a bonesaw problematic). The general approach to women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, etc., is incredibly regressive. It’s bad.
And yet, will I be watching the first race of the 2022 F1 season, which takes place in Saudi Arabia? I probably will. Will I tune in for the Saudi Golf League if and when it happens? I probably won’t.
So, what’s the difference?
Agency.
If Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel want to voice their displeasure about racing in Saudi Arabia, they can (and have, which is why I cited them specifically) … but they have no other options. They have contracts with their teams and would be in a lot of financial distress if they simply refused to race. Instead, they both wore the pride flag in some capacity, and both, especially Hamilton, is calling for change. Is that a big deal? Well, it’s more than any PGA golfer associated with the Saudi League has said publicly.
But here’s the main thing - Vettel and Hamilton don’t have another league to race Formula 1 cars. And there isn’t a rogue racing league that offers any real competition to F1, nothing close to that. (Even NASCAR and IndyCar are fundamentally different.) Do I hope F1 would avoid some fairly scummy countries? I do. But…this is the sport.
On the other hand, professional golfers have the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour (formerly the Euro Tour), and for folks like Phil Mickelson, the Champions Tour. All of the guys in question have already made millions on the course, and many more off of it. And as Rory McIlroy says, how much more do you need?
Agency matters - having a choice in your legacy matters. And these guys absolutely have that choice. Which one they make will dictate how they are thought about for the rest of their lifetimes.
