A senior US Senator has opened an investigation into the latest merger of the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf, requesting the organizations hand over paperwork outlining their abrupt resolution to hitch forces.
Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas stroll the green above. A senior US Senator has opened an investigation into the latest merger of the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf, (Picture: PGA Tour)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Senate’s Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations, outlined his request this week in separate letters to PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV CEO Greg Norman.
Blumenthal cites considerations that the settlement is an effort by the Saudi authorities to interact in “sportswashing” to cowl up its report of human rights abuses and hyperlinks to bankrolling the September 11 terror assaults. He additionally questions whether or not permitting the PGA Tour to keep up its tax-exempt standing would inappropriately profit the Saudi authorities.
LIV was established in 2021 by the Saudi Arabian Public Funding Fund, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, and it loved a largely acrimonious relationship with the PGA. LIV lured away high PGA Tour golfers with nine-figure paydays, and the PGA Tour responded by barring golfers who appeared at LIV occasions from competing on the tour.
Turnabout Raises Questions
The sudden about-face from Monahan and different PGA Tour officers surprised many observers, and now Blumenthal hopes to place the burden of his subcommittee behind efforts to get solutions.
PGA Tour’s settlement with PIF concerning LIV Golf raises considerations in regards to the Saudi authorities’s function in influencing this effort and the dangers posed by a international authorities entity assuming management over a cherished American establishment,” Blumenthal wrote.
Blumenthal requested that LIV and the PGA Tour ship an array of paperwork to his subcommittee by June 26. His sweeping request coated all paperwork and communications amongst senior officers on the PGA Tour and LIV, and Blumenthal particularly sought particulars on efforts to protect the PGA Tour’s tax-exempt standing, amongst different particulars.
In an announcement to numerous media shops this week, the PGA Tour stated it’s “assured that after Congress learns extra about how the PGA Tour will management this new enterprise, they may perceive the alternatives it will create for our gamers, our communities and our sport, all whereas defending an American golf establishment.”
Subpoenas Might Be Subsequent
If the organizations don’t adjust to the doc request, Blumenthal recommended he might must play hardball.
“I’ve no cause to consider that they gained’t cooperate proper now,” Blumenthal informed Slate this week. “However I’d look very harshly on their refusing to make these paperwork and different proof out there. And we’ve got the ability to subpoena; I see no cause why we wouldn’t use it if they only stonewall us.”
Blumenthal stated his objective is to get extra data on what went into the secretive and shocking deal between the PGA Tour and LIV.
“Proper now, we need to know the details,” he informed Slate. “We need to understand how this deal developed, who stated what to whom, what guarantees had been made, what the emails had been. As a result of I believe there are lots of people who’re completely mystified and perplexed, in addition to outraged, by this whole reversal by Jay Monahan and the PGA.”
State gaming regulators within the 30 states the place sports activities betting is authorized have largely resisted permitting wagers on LIV Golf occasions, typically citing controversy over the league’s Saudi backing. The merger might improve wagering on golf going ahead.
