US senator tells mickelson: It’s wrong to take Saudi cash
PHIL MICKELSON came in for some serious heckling yesterday — but it was not from the US Open crowd at Brookline.
The shamed American came under fire from a senator based in Oregon, where the next sorry instalment of the Saudi-backed LIV exhibition series will take place in a fortnight.
‘If he was standing in front of me right now I’d tell him to his face that you can be far better than this,’ said Democrat senator Ron Wyden in an interview with USA Today. Wyden added that the American rebels are wrong to take money from a nation complicit in the 9/11 tragedy, the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the death of an Oregon teenager, the victim of a hit and run by a Saudi national who then fled back home.
‘I went to college on a basketball scholarship, I know the value of goodwill in sports, but you can do it in a way that doesn’t reward those with blood-stained hands,’ continued Wyden. Alongside 11 mayors of cities surrounding the Portland venue Pumpkin Ridge, he is speaking out in opposition to the event going ahead, where Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed will join the mercenary cast, alongside Englishmen Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood. Wyden is promising to take his case all the way to
the White House. ‘I’d like to see the President bringing up these issues with LIV and put it in the context of holding the Saudis accountable for their atrocities,’ he said. ‘As one member of the US senate, I’m not going to let this go away.’ Mickelson’s return to American golf following his four-month exile duly ended in a missed cut yesterday on 11 over par following rounds of 78 and 73.
One of the few spectators watching over the back nine was laid out for his troubles, following a wayward Mickelson drive on the third hole, resulting in a bandaged head to protect a deep cut.
For Mickelson, life is clearly not about to get any more comfortable in Portland. Regarding the US Open — barring a rules change — the 52-year-old is eligible to play in the next four editions due to his PGA Championship victory last year.