Families of 9/11 victims call out Jay Monahan’s hypocrisy over LIV Golf merger

Jay Monahan has a lot of explaining to do

Last summer, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan made one of his strongest comments against the Saudi-funded LIV Golf by discussing the league’s funding by a government connected to the attacks on 9/11.

Monahan talked about his relationship with families who lost loved ones on September 11th and rhetorically asked if any golfers have ever felt the need to apologize for playing on the PGA Tour.

It was a powerful moment in an interview with Jim Nantz shown on CBS. On Tuesday it served as one of the biggest examples of Monahan’s hypocrisy as the PGA Tour shockingly merged with LIV Golf and the DP Tour. And it’s drawn the ire of the Families of 9/11 United.

In a statement released after the merger was announced, the Families of 9/11 United blasted Monahan for using their pain for politics:

“PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan co-opted the 9/11 community last year in the PGA’s unequivocal agreement that the Saudi LIV project was nothing more than sportswashing of Saudi Arabia’s reputation. But 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.”

Many golf fans raised a similar point on Tuesday as Monahan sat down for an interview with Saudi PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and praised the merger.