This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have written about this several times to express my personal opinion in opposition to the upstart LIV golf, which is funded by tainted money from Saudi Arabia.

Probably too many times.

But, stupid me.

I forgot one of the most salient facts that buoys support for the PGA Tour:  The millions of dollars it raises in charitable contributions in the cities where it holds tournaments.  Those who benefit are legions.

The same for LIV?  Of course, not.

LIV exists to “sportswash” its terrible human rights reputation, one it has earned over the years.  No “charity” there.

As for the PGA Tour’s charitable contributions:

The PGA Tour’s total, which includes a record $204.3 million in 2019 to bring the all-time total to $3.05 billion, includes donations made by tournaments on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Latinoamérica and PGA Tour Series-China.

“It’s truly a pleasure to thank our fans, sponsors, tournaments, players and volunteers for helping us generate over $3 billion for charity and positively impact millions of lives,” says Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.

No less a major tour star than Rory McIlroy recognized this when he told Global Golf Post recently that it “was the right thing to do” for him to rally around the Tour and serve as one of the primary spokesmen for the positive history and traditions of pro golf provided over the years by the PGA Tour.

Global Golf Post claimed he “was a voice of reason” in a list of defectors.

If you were put all the other major sports organizations in a list – the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League – McIlroy says the PGA tour delivers more to charity that those organizations combined – twice more, in fact.

Whatever else you may believe about the PGA Tour and LIV, contributions to charity set the Tour apart.  Easily.