(Reuters) – Mutual of Omaha have ended their sponsorship of Henrik Stenson, the American company said on Wednesday, a week after the Swede joined the lucrative LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Stenson, who won the 2016 British Open with a record score, was stripped of Team Europe’s Ryder Cup captaincy last week, hours before he announced his decision to join the Saudi-backed breakaway league.
Stenson competed wearing a Mutual of Omaha cap and was also the company’s golf ambassador at the Open earlier this month.
“Mutual of Omaha and Henrik Stenson have mutually decided to end their sponsorship relationship, effective immediately,” a spokesperson said.
Reuters has reached out to Stenson for comment.
The U.S. and European based Tours have banned and fined anyone joining the LIV Series.
Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf has already roped in six-times major winner Phil Mickelson, former world number ones Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, as well as former U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Critics of the new series say it amounts to ‘sportswashing’ by a nation trying to improve its reputation in light of its history of human rights abuses.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
