Brittney Griner attends WM Phoenix Open golf tournament as she makes just her second public appearance since being released from Russian penal colony in exchange for ‘The Merchant of Death’
WNBA star Brittney Griner attended the WM Phoenix Open golf tournament Saturday in her second public appearance since her release from a Russian prison in December.
Griner was part of a crowd of about 200,000 fans at the tournament, watching the action from the stadium 16th hole.
Last month in her first appearance, Griner was at the Martin Luther King Jr. march in downtown Phoenix.
She attended that event with her wife, Cherelle, and happily posed for pictures with excited fans.
Griner has a special connection to Arizona as she has played her entire WNBA career with the Mercury after a successful college career at Baylor University in Texas.
Griner is skipping the USA Basketball training camp in Minnesota so she can be with her wife and recover from her time in jail in Russia.
Brittney Griner acknowledges fans as she watches on the 16th hole during the third round
Less than six weeks after her release from a Russian prison, Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner surprised a group of people at an MLK march in AZ
She has said she’ll play for the Phoenix Mercury again this season, although she´s still an unsigned free agent.
Griner hasn’t talked about her international future, nor potentially playing in the Olympics next year in Paris.
Griner missed the 2021-22 WNBA season after being arrested in Russia for carrying marijuana vape cartridges through an airport in February.
She spent over ten months in a Russian penal colony and was released in a prisoner exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, otherwise known as ‘The Merchant of Death.’
Following Griner’s arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, she pleaded guilty in July but still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case.
She acknowledged in court that she possessed canisters with cannabis oil but said she had no criminal intent and she accidentally packed them. Her defense team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
Griner is shown on August 4 after pleading guilty in Russia. She was sentenced to nine years in prison, and was sent to a prison colony
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
