Stephen A. Smith Calls LIV Golf Partnership ‘Smart Business’ For PGA Tour: ‘It’s Great for the Sport’

While many are calling out the PGA Tour for partnering with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has nothing but praise for the move.

The rival golf organizations — who spent the year suing one another and feuding in the media — announced the agreement to join forces on Tuesday. Speaking on First Take when the news broke, Smith commended PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan for making it happen.

“I love it. I love it,” Smith said, “And I wanna take a moment to do something that I never thought I’d ever do on national television, and give PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan some love and some credit here. This is smart business on his part, make no mistake about it.

“You have to take into account the fact that when you had guys like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson who had defected to LIV Golf, they took a lot of heat. Obviously, there’s a whole bunch of people associated with the PGA that turned against them; but keep in mind what provoked all of this.”

A number of high-profile players — including Koepka, Johnson, and Phil Mickelson — jumped ship from the PGA Tour because they felt they were not being properly compensated. Saudi Arabia has been embroiled in human rights controversies, leading some to accuse the country of “sportswashing” — or cleaning up their image by heavily investing in sports. LIV golfers have been accused of choosing “blood money” over morals.

Smith then called out those opposing the PGA for choosing to do business with Saudi Arabia.

“The United States of America does business with Saudi Arabia,” Smith said. “So if our government can do business with them — and folks aren’t making but so much noise about that — why are you making noise about golfers? I never wanted to hear that. I never took that issue seriously, as far as I’m concerned. This is America. We’re in a capitalistic society. We do business globally, not just nationally. That’s the way of the world.”

Watch above via ESPN