Justin Rose, the world No 1, has defended his decision to appear in this week's Saudi Arabia International after one of America's leading golf analysts accused the top players of being "ventriloquists for an abhorrent regime".
Brandel Chamblee, the former PGA Tour winner did not hold back when asked about the tournament that will feature four of the world's top five, pointing the finger not only at the Tour but at the golfers themselves for taking huge appearance fees.
And when unleashing his tirade, Chamblee praised another English golfer in Paul Casey, who has revealed he will not be at the kingdom's first top-flight event because of "human rights violations", including the killing and dismembering of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi embassy three months ago. Telegraph Sport recently revealed that Tiger Woods also turned down more than £2 million to play.
"To turn a blind eye to the butchering of a media member in some way euphemises the egregious atrocity that not only took place with the Jamal Khashoggi murder but what goes on there all the time," Chamblee said on the Golf Channel. "It is a PR stunt… Non-participation — and I applaud Paul Casey — in some marginal way makes a statement about human rights. By participating, [the players] are ventriloquists for this abhorrent, reprehensible regime.
"I cannot imagine what economic incentive it would take to get me to go to a place that is so egregiously on the wrong side of human rights. I don't think they fully understand what they are doing. I don't understand it from an economic point of view, I don't understand it from a business point of view, and I don't understand it from a moral point of view. They are legitimising and enriching the rulers of this regime. I won't even watch it on the TV. They should not be there."