Carly Booth faces criticism over sponsorship deal with Golf Saudi

The Scottish golfer Carly Booth has suffered an online backlash after announcing a sponsorship deal with Golf Saudi in social media posts that were subsequently deleted.

In posts on Twitter and Instagram, Booth wrote: “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.”

The post was met with fierce criticism on Twitter, with US golfer and Guardian writer Anya Alvarez among those to question the promotion of Golf Saudi before the posts were deleted on Wednesday evening.

Scottish Golf appointed Booth as an ambassador for the women’s game in March. On its website, the organisation has said that Booth works with them in a voluntary capacity, in line with their strategy to boost golf participation among young women and girls, but have no plans to revise that partnership as a result of the controversy over the posts.

The body on Thursday distanced itself from the 26-year-old’s involvement with Golf Saudi with a spokesperson insisting any matters arising from sponsorship deals were for Booth and her management to address.

Booth’s posts were removed on Wednesday afternoon, but Golf Saudi are still listed as a sponsor on her official website at time of writing. The Guardian has contacted Booth’s management and Scottish Golf for further comment.

“Writing ‘culturally in a different place’, as in women just got the right to drive, are able to finally attend sporting events if they are seated separately from men, and where [the] death penalty is executed against women’s rights activists. Cool, Carly,” Alvarez had tweeted in response to the posts.

“This lacks total awareness of the human rights violations inflicted on women in Saudi Arabia … until SA stops murdering & imprisoning women’s right activists, there is no reason to be an ambassador for them,” Alvarez later added.

TalkSport presenter Georgie Bingham wrote “Crikey Carly, I think you might want to head to Google and a bit of ‘women’s rights, Saudi Arabia’ before announcing that.”

The Perthshire golfer revealed news of the sponsorship deal on the same day that Saudi Arabia announced the mass execution of 37 citizens for alleged terrorism-related crimes – actions condemned as “repulsive” by the UK Foreign Office.

The men’s European Tour visited Saudi Arabia for the first time in January of this year, in a move that drew widespread criticism. Justin Rose, Sergio García and the eventual winner, Dustin Johnson, were among those who took part. Brandel Chamblee, a pundit for the Golf Channel, labelled those who participated as “ventriloquists for this abhorrent, reprehensible regime”.

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Golf Saudi are also reportedly planning to host a women’s tournament in the kingdom. “The old story of Saudi Arabia that it’s segregated is no longer applicable,” Majed al-Sorour, the federation’s CEO, said in February.

Booth, who is currently ranked No 351 in the world and 15th on the Ladies European Tour order of merit, played at a pro-am event in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Shortly after deleting posts relating to her sponsorship deal, she cryptically wrote “God, goals, growing and glowing” on Instagram.

source: theguardian.com