WASHINGTON — Blockbuster news of a merger between the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour and the PGA Tour is being met with outrage from the families of some 9/11 victims.
Terry Strada blames the Saudi Arabian government for helping to orchestrate the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 that killed 3,000 people in D.C., Pennsylvania and New York, including her husband, who worked in the Twin Towers.
The Saudi government has denied supporting the 9/11 plot.
But Strada says the Saudis got exactly what they wanted with a deal to merge with the PGA Tour.
“I am appalled,” Strada said. “I am deeply, deeply offended at this news that the PGA has just sold their soul to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and sold out on all of the players that took the high road, took the high moral ground to say no to LIV. They're all now owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
The agreement was reached without the knowledge of most PGA Tour members, according to ESPN.
The headline in the release from the PGA Tour didn’t mention LIV Golf by name. Instead, it referred to a partnership with PIF or the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi funding arm of its global golf enterprises including LIV Golf.
The PGA called the deal “a landmark agreement to unify the game of golf, on a global basis.” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan added the partnership is “transformational.”
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” Monahan said in his statement.
Strada, however, said she felt it was a "betrayal."
“It's just a complete betrayal of our trust and our belief,” she said. “The message that it sends to us is that money is means more than morals, means more than accountability, means more than doing the right thing. My husband always went around the house saying: ‘do the right thing.' He always told the kids that and Jay Monahan has just completely crapped all over it.”
At a ribbon cutting at the opening of a veterans clinic in Fairfax on Tuesday, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was disappointed by the news.
“I thought the PGA was taking a stand against a golf tournament funded by people who have really, really troubling human rights records, including right here in Northern, Virginia,” Kaine said.
The senator sent a letter to then-President Donald Trump in 2020 to seek the release of Virginia resident Salah Al-Haidar, who Kaine said had been detained on baseless grounds in Saudi Arabia since April 2019.
“I think they found that their commercial interest outweighs their legitimate, moral, ethical and human rights concerns,” Kaine said of the PGA.
Strada believes this is a huge win for those LIV Golfers accused of helping the Saudi government “sports wash” what Amnesty International calls one of the worst human rights records in the world.
"The Saudi government's multibillion-dollar campaign to 'sports wash' their horrific human rights abuses is despicable," Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D), who represents Northern Virginia, said. "We cannot ignore their egregious record of punishing political dissidents, trampling on women's freedoms, and the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi—buying off the PGA will not change that."
Bryson DeChambeau, one of the most famous American golfers to sign with LIV for a reported $125 million, was asked about the criticism during a recent LIV event at Trump National Golf Club in Loudoun County.
“When you can talk about ethics that’s people’s perception, and I completely disagree with it," he said. "But everyone has the right to their own opinion, and I’d say, was it worth it? Absolutely. This has been beyond my dreams.”
The merger will take place after the 2023 season.
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