The PGA Tour on Tuesday defended its controversial take care of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league before senators, several of whom are critical of the agreement.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee’s subcommittee on investigations kicked off its first hearing in regards to the merger of the PGA Tour’s and LIV’s industrial assets.
A representative from LIV Tour or Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is not going to be present on the hearing because CEO Greg Norman is in another country, in response to a spokesperson. Ron Price, chief operating officer of PGA Tour, is slated to testify.
The June merger announcment shocked the sports world, with many critics on Capitol Hill accusing LIV, which is funded by the PIF, of “sportswashing,” or spreading government influence through sports.
While the subcommittee’s chair, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is a critic of the deal, rating member Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., took a softer tone.
“I hope the hearing gives the PGA the chance to explain the challenge it faces in operating and managing skilled golf,” Johnson told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. “The PGA was faced with an existential threat and that is what their attempting to do to preserve the sport of golf and the purity of the competition at the best level.”
Critics have also pointed to the Saudi government’s ties to the 9/11 attacks, which the Saudis have denied, and the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A spokesperson for Blumenthal said the committee is preparing to listen to testimony from Norman in addition to tour golfers sometime in the longer term.
“Today’s hearing is about rather more than the sport of golf…It’s about how a brutal, repressive regime can purchase influence – indeed even take over – a cherished American institution simply to cleanse its public image,” he said in an announcement. “A regime that has killed journalists, jailed and tortured dissidents, fostered the war in Yemen, and supported other terrorist activities, including 9/11. It’s called sportswashing.”
It is a developing story. Check back for updates.
