PHIL MICKELSON has said he has the 'deepest sympathy' for the families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 terror attacks after a received a strong letter from the families whose relatives died that day.
The letter written by Terry Strada, the national chair of 911familiesunited.org took issue with the Mickelson and the other American golfers looking past sports washing and avoiding tough questions from reporters in relation to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Strada's, husband died in the September 11th attacks and said that Mickelson 'should be ashamed.'
“Phil knows exactly what he’s doing, and he and his fellow LIV golfers should be ashamed,” read the statement on Twitter.
“They are helping the Saudi regime ‘sportswash’ their reputation in return for tens of millions of dollars, at the very same time our government is rolling out more damning evidence of Saudi culpability in the 9/11 attacks.
As the PGA Tour commissioner said Sunday ‘you’d have to be living under a rock’ to not understand the implications of involving yourself with the Saudis.”
Terry Strada, head of 9/11 Families United, issued a response to Phil Mickelson’s comments today.
Says Mickelson and fellow LIV golfers should be ashamed: pic.twitter.com/Pe9IT82udq— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) June 13, 2022
The 9/11 attacks will forever be known as one of the darkest days in American history, when almost were 3,000 people were killed from terrorist's attacks
An FBI declassified document said that 15 of the 19 plane hijackers in the attack were Saudi nationals. The kingdom has denied this to this day
Mickelson, who is reported to have received a $200m fee to take part in the event responded to the questions in the press conference by saying,
"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', he said
“I have the deepest of sympathy and empathy for them.”
When asked if he would be responding to the letter directly, he ducked the question and offered his sympathy again to families who lost loved ones in September 2001 .
I think I speak for pretty much every American in that we feel the deepest of sympathy and the deepest of empathy for those that have lost loved ones, friends in 9/11.
“It affected all of us, and those that have been directly affected I think, I can't emphasise enough how much empathy I have for them.”
While the PGA Tour has chosen to suspend players involved with LIV, the United States Golf Association, which runs the US Open, has welcomed the likes of Mickelson
Next up for the former US Open winner is the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club at Brookline, Massachusetts this week.
He tees off this Thursday alongside Ireland's Shane Lowry and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen at 18:47 BST.
Phil Mickelson says he has "deep empathy" for people who lost loved ones on 9/11.
This comes after a coalition of families and survivors of 9/11 sent a scathing letter to Mickelson and other American golfers over their decision to compete in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour. pic.twitter.com/iwG099tZFK— The Recount (@therecount) June 13, 2022
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