Protest over LIV Tour’s U.S. debut
Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11 attacks focus of group at event in Oregon
The Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf tour’s second event teed off Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club near Portland, Ore., angering a group of families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11 and want the Saudi government held to account for the terrorist attacks.
About 10 family members and survivors spoke at a North Plains, Ore., park near the golf course.
“This event is nothing more than a group of very talented athletes who appear to have turned their backs on the crime of murder,” said Tim Frolich, who was injured in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
The LIV Golf series, funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, was making its first stop on American soil after a debut this month outside of London.
Carlos Ortiz took the lead with a 5-under-par 67. Dustin Johnson was a shot back. Pat Perez, Brenden Grace and Hideto Tadihara were two shots off the lead.
The upstart series, fronted by CEO Greg Norman, aims to challenge the PGA Tour and has lured players with big signing bonuses and rich prize purses. But critics call the tour an attempt at “sportswashing” to detract from Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, including the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
In Portland, opponents point to the 2016 hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Fallon Smart. The Saudi national accused in the case cut off a monitoring device shortly before his trial and fled. U.S. officials believe he was spirited home by the Saudi government.
And then there’s the Sept. 11 families, who have reached out to some of the individual golfers involved in the tour but have not been granted an audience. The group produced an ad that has run on local television.
“These golfers that are getting in bed with the Saudis, they should know what they’re doing. Shame on them. And to the golfers that say it’s just a game of golf: Shame on them,” said Brett Eagleson, the head of the group 9/11 Justice, who lost his father at the World Trade Center. “I invite them to live with the pain in our eyes, hear our stories and walk in our shoes, hear what we have to say about the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
⏩ The PGA Tour is robbing fans by preventing LIV Golf participants from playing, according to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach (Fla.) County.
The civil lawsuit, filed Tuesday, is seeking class-action status and says suspending golfers who play in the LIV tournaments, as the PGA Tour has done, robs fans of seeing some of the best golfers in the world and is “anti-competitive behavior” in a free-market economy.
PGA Tour: J.T. Poston shot a 9-under 62 to take a two-stroke lead over Michael Gligic in the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. Coming off a second-place tie last weekend in Connecticut after also opening with a 62, Poston eagled the par-5 second and had seven birdies in a bogey-free round at TPC Deere Run.
“It’s obviously why you practice and why you work as hard as you do on your game,” Poston said. “Any time you can have those rounds where you really get it going low and mistake-free, bogey-free is a bonus. It’s why you work at it and why you practice the way we do.”
Defending champion Lucas Glover shot 74.
European tour: New Zealand’s Ryan Fox had eight birdies, including seven in his last 11 holes, in a round of 8-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead over Frederic Lacroix, Jorge Campillo, Fabrizio Zanotti and Marcel Schneider at the Irish Open in Thomastown, Ireland.
“I’m more surprised, to be honest, than anything else,” Fox said. “I’ve been fighting it on the range the last couple of days and a 64 certainly didn’t look likely early in the round.”