Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and many big name professional golfers that have joined the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf venture have made it clear it’s about business, not politics.
Not everyone views it that way.
Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of slain Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, disagrees, and called out players participating in LIV Golf during the league’s inaugural event over the weekend.
A report from U.S intelligence claimed Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman was behind an operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi.
Salman controls the Saudi Public Investment Fund that created LIV Golf, which has obtained golfers such as Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and 17 players total from the PGA Tour. It has supplied massive contracts and prize packages to lure some of the best names away from the PGA.
Cengiz called for all players participating in the league to be banned from major tournaments.
“If they still carry on and play as if everything is normal, then they should be banned from playing in the world’s major tournaments,’’ Cengiz told USA TODAY Sports. “This will show that there are consequences for supporting murderers, and it will show the murderers that they are not escaping justice.’’
Cengriz was engaged to Khashoggi at the time of his assassination as he was killed inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018.
The PGA has responded to players jumping ship to LIV Golf by suspending all players shortly before the league’s inaugural event started at Centurion Club in London on Thursday.
While the PGA has made its stance clear, other major events have yet to publicly state their views on the venture move for golfers. The U.S. Open, which starts Thursday, and the United States Golf Association, said that all players who qualified for the tournament will be eligible.
The British Open, PGA Championship and The Masters have not announced if players playing in LIV Golf are eligible.
Still, the choice is clear for Cengriz.
“If the players and organizers say they oppose human rights violations, they should act on that,” Cengiz said. “Otherwise their words are empty—only said to try to make themselves look better and not to change anything in Saudi Arabia. They should be insisting on justice for Jamal and the countless persons targeted and abused in the Kingdom. And they should not be participating in sports paid for by the very abusers.”
– Aron Yohannes
