Sept. 11 survivors, families to protest Saudi-funded golf LIV tour set for U.S. debut

LIV Golf's first U.S. event is set to begin Thursday, with a group of survivors and families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 terror attacks planning to gather at a nearby park to speak out against the Saudi Arabia-funded tour.

Brett Eagleson was 15 years old when he lost his father in the collapse of the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on that day in 2001.

"We want the golfers to know who they're getting in bed with, who they're doing business with," Eagleson said.

"Any golfer that chooses to go play for the LIV tournament should have to listen to the family members and look us in the eye, and explain to us why they're taking the Saudi money and why they're playing in this tournament. And we want the ability to educate the golfers on what we know about the Saudi role on 9/11."

The LIV Golf Invitational starts Thursday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, about 20 miles west of downtown Portland.

Eagleson is especially disheartened over Phil Mickelson, one of this childhood heroes, and his decision to join LIV Golf. The tour, run by Greg Norman and funded by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, has offered signing bonuses — some that reportedly topping $100 million US — that some players have found irresistible.

"Now to see him, kowtowing into the Saudis, and saying that he doesn't give a crap, he doesn't give a crap about the struggles and the pain and the misery. Three-thousand dead Americans. He doesn't care because he got offered a paycheck? It's just the worst form of greed," Eagleson said.

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In addition to Mickelson, fellow majors winners Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have also joined LIV Golf. Mickelson did not