Golf’s Original Sportswasher: Nazi Financier Karl Henkell

Karl Henkell, a shadowy figure and one of the original financiers of the Nazi Party, used golf to burnish Germany’s image in the 1930s. Photo: Hugo Erfurth, ullstein bild via Getty Images

Editor's note: This story will appear in the Aug. 1 issue of Global Golf Post. It is offered today as a sneak peek for our GGP+ subscribers.

LIV Golf has spawned increased usage of the word “sportswashing,” a term of recent vintage (Oxford Dictionary dates it to 2015). So far, the project has backfired. Paying hundreds of millions of dollars to some relevant or recently relevant PGA Tour stars, assorted journeymen, and a couple of promising newcomers, money the Saudis have little chance of recouping, has only highlighted that the kingdom has more cash than common sense.

It hasn’t helped the Saudi cause that far more news about LIV mention the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi than scores from the everybody-gets-a-check, shotgun-start, music-blaring exhibitions. In return for their riches, LIV participants Phil Mickels...