on the United States in 2001 killed almost 3,000 people. According to an FBI declassified document, 15 of the 19 plane hijackers in the attack were Saudi nationals.<\/span><\/p>\nTerry Strada, whose husband Tom was among those killed, is chair of 9\/11 Families United and said the group was “shocked and deeply offended” by the merger with a “league that is bankrolled by billions of sportswashing money from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.<\/span><\/p>\n“PGA Tour leaders should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed,” she added <\/span>in a statement.<\/span>external-link<\/title><path d=\"M12 0v5h11.5l-5 5H0v22h22V17.5l-2 2V30H2V12h14.5l-7.8 7.7 3.6 3.6L27 8.5V20h5V0H12z\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-15.$link-2.1.0.1\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-16\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-16.0\">“It appears their concern for our loved ones was merely window-dressing in their quest for money – it was never to honour the great game of golf.”<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-18\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-18.0\">Speaking to the BBC, DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said: “This has never been about sportswashing.”<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-19\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-19.0\">The PGA and LIV have agreed to combine their commercial operations and rights into a new, yet-to-be named for-profit company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-20\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-20.0\">Monahan will be its chief executive, with Yasir Al-Rumayyan – governor of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), which backs LIV – as chairman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-21\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-21.0\">The inaugural LIV season started last June, when Monahan said: “I have two families that are close to me that lost loved ones, and so my heart goes out to them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-22\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-22.0\">“And I would ask any player that has left or any player that would ever consider leaving, have you ever had to apologise for being a member of the PGA Tour?”<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"story-body__crosshead\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$crosshead-23\">Trump hails ‘beautiful and glamorous deal’<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"gs-u-mt0 gs-u-mb-alt+ story-body__media story-body__media--figure qa-story-body-media\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$image-24\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$image-24.0\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%;\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$image-24.0.0\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"gel-brevier gs-u-ph+ gs-u-pv-alt story-body__media__caption story-body__media__caption--image\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$image-24.1\">Yasir Al-Rumayyan (right) with Donald Trump at the latest LIV Golf event, which was played at the former US president’s course in Virginia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-25\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-25.0\">Phil Mickelson was one of the first players to switch from the PGA to LIV, and Strada wrote to the six-time major winner and other big names who had accepted lucrative deals from LIV.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-26\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-26.0\">Speaking before the US Open last June about those who lost loved ones in 9\/11, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/golf\/61792058\" class=\"story-body__internal-link\" title=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-26.$link-2\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-26.$link-2.0\">Mickelson said:<\/span><\/a><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-26.3\"> “I have the deepest of sympathy and empathy for them.”<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-27\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-27.0\">He added: “I would say to the Strada family, I would say to everyone that has lost loved ones, lost friends on 9\/11 that I have deep, deep empathy for them. I can’t emphasise that enough.”<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-29\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-29.0\">The 52-year-old American responded to news of the merger on Tuesday by tweeting: “Awesome day.”<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-30\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-30.0\">Courses owned by Donald Trump have hosted LIV events this season and last, including its most recent event in Sterling, Virginia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-31\"><span data-reactid=\".22i6knv9fae.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-31.0\">On Tuesday, the former US president said: “Great news from LIV Golf. A big, beautiful and glamorous deal for the wonderful world of golf. Congrats to all.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/golf\/65839876?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PGA Tour, DP World Tour & PIF merger: Jay Monahan on “heated” talk with players PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has expressed “regret” over not sharing plans to agree a shock merger with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Monahan previously referenced the 9\/11 terror attacks when criticising players for leaving the PGA for the Saudi-backed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10228,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10226\/revisions\/10228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}