LIV Golf heads to Oregon, where local officials aren’t happy

Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf is getting a chilly reception in Oregon, its first stop in the United States.

This coming week, the series, which is paying enormous signing fees for players like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, descends on Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in tiny North Plains, nestled in the rolling hills west of Portland.

But the North Plains mayor, as well as officials from surrounding cities, have written the club’s owner, Escalante Golf, with concerns. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is speaking out against the tournament, and some members of the pricey club also are uncomfortable with the situation.

Opponents point to Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, including the murder of U.S.based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But in Oregon, there also is anger over the hitand-run death of 15-year-old Fallon Smart in 2016.

Saudi student Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah was facing a trial on first-degree murder charges when he removed a tracking device and vanished. U.S. authorities believe the Saudi government helped arrange for a fake passport and provided a private jet for travel back to Saudi Arabia. The case was featured on “60 Minutes.”

“It’s wrong to be silent when Saudi Arabia tries to cleanse blood-stained hands, in the fight for Oregonians to get justice — Fallon Smart was killed very close to our house in Southeast Portland, and the person charged with the crime, a hit-and-run death, was, based on all the evidence, whisked out of the country by the Saudis before he stood for trial,” Wyden said in an interview with The Associated Press.

There is also concern the event could bring protests to North Plains, a town of just 3,400 people. Tickets to the event prohibit fans from displaying any political signs.

“We oppose this event because it is being sponsored by a repressive government whose human rights abuses are documented. We refuse to support these abuses by complicitly allowing the Saudi-backed organization to play in our backyard,” said a letter signed by North Plains Mayor Teri Lenahan and 10 other mayors from surrounding cities.

Wyden accuses the Saudi government of sportswashing.

“It’s just a page out of the autocrats’ playbook covering up injustices by misusing athletics in hopes of normalizing their abuses,” he said.

The event also has put Pumpkin Ridge members in a difficult spot. Some decided to leave the club over the tournament, but it’s unclear how many departed.

“A lot of members are like stuck between a rock and a hard place right now where politically they don’t agree with it at all,” said member Kevin Palmer of Beaverton. “But I also joined last year and put down like $12,000, and if I leave I don’t get any of that money back.”