Golf fans can be as wild as other sports fanatics. Similarly, sometimes they take it too far, forgetting that these athletes and their families are people too.
Dustin Johnson’s wife, Paulina Gretzky, details death threats amid LIV Golf move
On the new season of Netflix’s Full Swing, Johnson’s wife, Paulina Gretzky, explained the dark times at home.
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
The highly anticipated second season of Netflix’s Full Swing premiered on March 6, and the stories that have emerged from it are wild.
Producers sat down with Dustin Johnson and his wife, Paulina Gretzky, to discuss their journey throughout the last couple of years. Gretzky explained how insane things got when Johnson left for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League.
“There were people sending death threats and awful, awful, awful things,” she said. “People were aggressive, that’s for sure, but that’s when I shut it down for a little bit. I was like, ‘I don’t need to look at this; everyone has an opinion on it and fine.’”
It is never easy to hear about a family receiving death threats. But this is obviously not a new phenomena.
Not only that, but this particular instance had little to do with the sport and more about politics.
LIV Golf has come under fire since its inception due to its ties to Saudi Arabia and their Public Investment Fund. Saudi Arabia has a terrible human rights record, among being tied to numerous other atrocities.
The Middle East nation has been criticized for ‘sportswashing,’ which is to say cleansing its reputation through sports. The Saudi Prince, Mohamman bin Salman, openly acknowledged they plan to continue sportswashing because it works.
So Johnson’s move to LIV left a bad taste in fans’ mouths.
But that does not justify their actions. Nothing does.
Gretzky went on to explain how her husband has more control over his schedule, instead of having it dictated by the PGA Tour.
LIV Golf has just 14 events throughout the year versus the 36 events the PGA Tour has on the schedule.
“The old life we had — it was ‘I had to take a back seat’ but now it feels like we’re in the front of the plane together flying. It was the right move,” Gretzky said on Full Swing.
Johnson was one of the guys adamant that his decision to leave for LIV Golf was to spend more time with his family. He has five wins on the LIV Golf tour and won $35 million alone during his first season with the Saudi-backed league.
Family might have been reason number one, but the money certainly didn’t hurt.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
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