Scottish golfer Carly Booth is facing an online backlash after promoting a tie-in with Golf Saudi on her social media page.
As news emerged of mass executions of prisoners by the hardline Saudi state, Booth’s promotion of a deal to represent the country’s Golf Federation has provoked an angry response.
I am honoured to represent @Golf_Saudi as they acknowledge that women in sport is of paramount importance.Although culturally they are in a different place to some countries,they are doing everything they can to introduce girls and women into sport and lead healthy lifestyles. pic.twitter.com/fc6dejZT7Y
— Carly Booth (@CarlyBooth92) April 23, 2019
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The European Tour, and some of the world’s leading male golfers, came in for fierce criticism earlier this season when the circuit staged an event in Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Brandel Chamblee, the former PGA Tour player and now a leading analyst on the Golf Channel, accused those competing of being “ventriloquists for an abhorrent regime”.
In the wake of that tournament, Saudi officials unveiled ambitions to stage a female professional event as early as next year as part of plans to grow the sport in a country regularly condemned for its treatment of women and its wider human rights.
Booth, a two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, states that Golf Saudi "acknowledge that women in sport is of paramount importance" but critics have lambasted the Scot for embracing the organisation.
Crikey Carly I think you might want to head to google and a bit of “women’s rights, Saudi Arabia” before announcing that.
— Georgie Bingham (@georgiebingham) April 24, 2019
I like you Carly, but Saudi Arabia is probably the worst country to be affiliated with at the moment. They are executing juvenile ‘offenders’ for political crimes. Obviously Saudi golf is not Saudi Arabia, but it’s a kingdom which means everything leads back to the royal family!
— Simo Macca (@Aussiesimo) April 24, 2019
Disgusting support for such a murderous regime. Shameful.
— Johnny Heavey (@JohnnyH1857) April 24, 2019
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