September 11 families to protest LIV players

LIV Golf’s first US event is set to begin today with a group of survivors and families who lost loved ones in the September 11 terror attacks planning to gather at a nearby park to speak out against the Saudi Arabia-funded tour.

Brett Eagleson was 15 years old when he lost his father in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Nearly 3000 people were killed on that day in 2001.

‘‘We want the golfers to know who they’re getting in bed with, who they’re doing business with,’’ Eagleson said. ‘‘Any golfer that chooses to go play for the LIV tournament should have to listen to the family members and look us in the eye, and explain to us why they’re taking the Saudi money and why they’re playing in this tournament.

‘‘And we want the ability to educate the golfers on what we know about the Saudi role on 9/11.’’

Eagleson, now 36, is among those criticising the LIV tournament and its connection to a regime that has flouted human rights. All but four of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were Saudi citizens, and the Saudi kingdom was the birthplace of Osama bin Laden, the head of alqaeda and mastermind of the attack.

The LIV Golf Invitational starts at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, just outside Portland.

Eagleson is especially disheartened over Phil Mickelson, one of his childhood heroes, and his decision to join LIV Golf.

The tour, run by Greg Norman and funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has offered signing bonuses – some that reportedly topping US$100 million – that some players have found irresistible.

‘‘Now to see him, kowtowing into the Saudis, and saying that he doesn’t give a crap, he doesn’t give a crap about the struggles and the pain and the misery. Three thousand dead Americans. He doesn’t care because he got offered a paycheque? It’s just the worst form of greed,’’ Eagleson said.

In addition to Mickelson, fellow majors winners Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have also joined LIV Golf. Mickelson did not speak to reporters before the Oregon tournament.

As much as the upstart tour no doubt wants to escape criticism, it can’t avoid it. At the pretournament news conferences, golfers were asked about the Saudi connection and gave similar, pat answers to questions about the topic, repeating variations of the message that golf can be a ‘‘force for good’’.

The Portland stop is the second of eight LIV Golf events this year.