9/11 families ‘deeply offended’ by PGA Tour, LIV Golf merger

A group representing the families of 9/11 victims said on Tuesday that they were “shocked and deeply offended” by the newly announced merger between the PGA Tour and its Saudi-backed competitor LIV Golf.

The group, 9/11 Families United, has repeatedly voiced its opposition to LIV Golf over its ties to Saudi Arabia, which has long faced accusations of assisting the terrorists who committed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“Saudi operatives played a role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and now it is bankrolling all of professional golf,” Chair Terry Strada said in a statement.

The PGA Tour announced on Tuesday that it would merge with the upstart rival league to form one larger golf organization.

“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement.

However, the 9/11 families said they feel “betrayed” by Monahan, who had previously suggested that golfers who joined LIV Golf might need to apologize for their participation in the league.

“I have two families that are close to me that lost loved ones, and so my heart goes out to them,” Monahan said last June. “And I would ask any player that has left or any player that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Strada said on Tuesday that leaders of the PGA Tour should be “ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed,” describing their concern for the 9/11 families as “merely window-dressing in their quest for money.”

“Now the PGA and Monahan appear to have become just more paid Saudi shills, taking billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation so that Americans and the world will forget how the Kingdom spent their billions of dollars before 9/11 to fund terrorism, spread their vitriolic hatred of Americans, and finance al Qaeda and the murder of our loved ones,” she added. “Make no mistake – we will never forget,”

Saudi Arabia has continued to deny its involvement in the 2001 terrorist attacks, including after the FBI released newly declassified documents about its investigation into possible Saudi government ties to the attacks in 2021.

“Any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false,” the Saudi embassy said in a statement at the time.