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As Charl Schwartzel worked his way through to a $4.75 million payday, Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancé demanded that he and all other players participating in Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf face consequences.
She wants them banned from major tournaments.
Hatice Cengiz made the statement to USA Today on Saturday.
“There are consequences for supporting murderers”
“If they’re still going on and playing as if everything is normal, then they should be banned from participating in the major tournaments in the world,” Cengiz said via email. “This will show that there are consequences for supporting murderers, and it will show the murderers that they will not escape justice.”
Cengiz was engaged to Khashoggi when he was murdered in 2018. A US intelligence report released in 2021 concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman orchestrated his death.
“We understand that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman has authorized an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to detain or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist and exiled Saudi journalist critical of Bin Salman’s regime. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 to collect documents to marry Turkish woman Cengiz.
According to the Turkish government, Saudi officials arrested Khashoggi after he entered the consulate, suffocated him and then dismembered his body to disperse his remains. Cengiz waited outside the consulate for hours before alerting Turkish officials.
“No matter how long I waited, cheerful Jamal didn’t come back,” Cengiz wrote in 2018. “All that came was the news of his death.”
LIV Golf slammed for ‘sports laundering’ of Saudi human rights atrocities
LIV Golf debuted in London this weekend. The golf league, backed by more than $2 billion in Saudi government funds and spearheaded by former PGA Tour pro Greg Norman, is facing allegations of “sportswashing” – an attempt perpetrated by the Saudi regime through sports to dilute human rights violations.
The best PGA players move to LIV Golf
LIV Golf attracted some of the top names in golf with the promise of lucrative guaranteed paydays in addition to sizable tournament purses. Big winners like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau have either joined the league or reportedly committed to play in the PGA Tour appeal. Mickelson reportedly made $200 million just for joining the league.
The PGA Tour announced last week that it was suspending the 17 players who competed in London over the weekend. Some players, including Johnson and Garcia, have officially retired from the PGA Tour.
Schwarzel, the 2011 Masters winner, won $4 million from the $25 million prize pool for his win at London’s Centurion Club on Saturday, in addition to his $750,000 share of his team’s win at the Event. For comparison, Scottie Scheffler earned $2.7 million from a $15 million purse for winning the Masters in April.
The journalist says he was “physically removed” by LIV Golf security
During the tournament, journalist Alan Shipnuck wrote that he was “physically removed” by LIV Golf security “by order of their boss” from a Mickelson press conference. Shipnuck reported in February that Mickelson called the Saudi regime “scary motherf***ers” with “a terrible human rights record.”
The PGA Tour ban does not prohibit players from attending non-PGA sanctioned majors, including this week’s US Open hosted by the USGA. The USGA announced last week that it will not ban LIV players from “the 2022 US Open,” meaning Mickelson, Johnson and others are welcome to play at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. The statement did not address future US Opens.
Cengiz hopes this will be her last US Open and that her days at golf’s most prestigious tournaments are numbered.
