LIV Golf Soap Opera Plot Lines Include Protests, New Members And A Murder

LIV Golf brings its 54-hole invitational format to Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Oregon this week. Stop two of their nine tournament-opening season and the first in the U.S.

When they arrive, they will face locals that are not thrilled they are coming and potential protests.

The mayor of North Plains, home of Pumpkin Ridge, and 10 other local mayors sent a letter of concerns over the Saudi involvement to the club's owner, Escalante Golf. The letter centered on an incident in Portland in 2016. Portland resident Fallon Smart, 15, was the victim in a hit and run death accident. Saudi student Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah was arrested and facing trial on first degree murder charges. Noorah removed a tracking device and vanished while awaiting trial. U.S. authorities believe the Saudi government provided him with a passport and a private jet and whisked him away to Saudi Arabia to avoid trial.

The letter in part read, "We oppose this event because it is being sponsored by a repressive government whose human rights abuses are documented. We refuse to support these abuses by complicitly allowing the Saudi-backed organization to play in our backyard."

The LIV traveling show added 3 new golfers this weekend. Matt Wolfe, Carlos Ortiz and the #2 ranked amateur golfer from Oklahoma St., Eugenio Chacarra, have all signed deals to play this week. Wolfe was a hot commodity coming out of Oklahoma St. in 2019 after winning the NCAA individual championship and then winning the 4th PGA tour event that he entered. It has been a rocky road since then, and in calendar 2022, he has missed 7 cuts in the 12 tournaments he has entered.

Matthew Wolff of the U.S. plays his shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club on May 19, 2022, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Jason Kokrak also is rumored to be considering heading to LIV. Last week at the PGA tournament in Hartford, Kokrak hit his wedge on his last hole of the second round 50 yards over the green. He thanked his playing partners and walked off the course, he was disqualified for not recording a score on a hole. Let the LIV rumors swirl.

And then there was the Twitter spat between the @ESPNCaddie and Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee. No love lost here, after Brandel tweeted about LIV:

After ripping Chamblee, Collins felt compelled to tweet where he really stands on the issue.

LIV has loved dropping news on Tuesday's, so updates should be coming tomorrow. Can't wait.