‘This is wrong:’ Even this US Senator is disgusted by Phil Mickelson and Saudi golf league

BROOKLINE, Mass. — As Phil Mickelson was cheered throughout a poor first round at the U.S. Open Thursday, a U.S. senator called him out for his decision to join LIV Golf, ensuring the controversy over the new Saudi-backed tour will continue with its first tournament to be held on U.S. soil near Portland, Oregon in two weeks.

In a telephone interview with USA TODAY Sports Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D.-Ore., said that Mickelson and other American golfers are “wrong” to take money from a government trying to sportswash its image from a range of atrocities, including 9/11, the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and a controversy over the 2016 death of an Oregon teenager, the victim of a hit and run by a Saudi national who then fled the United States for Saudi Arabia.

“I would just say, this is wrong,” Wyden said when asked what he would say to Mickelson about his involvement with the Saudis. “I went to school on a basketball scholarship. I believe deeply in the role of sports helping to promote goodwill. I would tell Mr. Mickelson, you can do better than this. You can be far better than this, you’re clearly going to have loads of opportunities to make very substantial sums of money, but you can do it in a way that doesn’t reward those with blood-stained hands.”

Wyden, along with 11 mayors of cities around Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, is speaking out in opposition to the club hosting the LIV tournament.

“One of the reasons I am so strongly opposed to this being in Portland, the kickoff of the (U.S. portion of the LIV) tour, is that this hits really close to home,” Wyden said. “A young woman, Fallon Smart, was the victim of a fatal hit and run and right before the Saudi national was to go to trial, our law enforcement officials at home believe that this suspect was whisked out of Oregon and the country by Saudi officials. They…