PGA Tour is sending 2 executives to a Senate hearing as LIV cites conflicts

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Two high-profile figures on the PGA Tour have agreed to testify next week before a Senate committee reviewing the surprise tour agreement with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf.

The committee will have to wait to hear from Greg Norman, CEO of LIV, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi National Wealth Fund who is behind the competing ring.

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The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price and board member Jimmy Dunn agreed to appear on July 11.

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the committee, and ranking member Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, said Norman and Alarmian cited scheduling conflicts because of their inability to appear.

Playing LIV Golf outside of London this week. The next tournament isn’t until early August.

“We value the PGA Tour’s work with us and look forward to a strong and thoughtful exchange with both Ron Price and Jimmy Dunn on July 11, focusing on the specifics and background of this transaction and what it means to this dear American institution,” Blumenthal and Johnson said in a joint statement.

They said they regretted that Al-Rumayyan and Norman’s schedules would keep them away from the hearing because “they have valuable information to share about the Public Investment Fund’s operations, the future of LIV Golf, and Saudi Arabia’s plans to invest in golf and other sports.”

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“In line with our subcommittee’s practices, we look forward to working with both witnesses to find a mutually acceptable date for them to appear in the near future,” they said.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan stepped down from a “medical position” on June 13 and handed day-to-day operations over to Price and Tyler Dennis, President of the PGA Tour.

The New York Times said LIV has instead been offered Gary Davidson, who serves as LIV’s acting director of operations. It quoted a person familiar with LIV’s thinking as saying that Davidson was more involved in the day-to-day operations of the league and the implications of the deal.

Norman was not involved in the seven weeks of negotiations that led to the framework agreement, in which the Public Investment Fund, the PGA Tour and the European Tour would combine the business and rights into a separate for-profit company.

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Nor was the price. The only people involved in the deal were Al Rumayyan, Monahan and PGA Tour board members Dunn and Ed Herlihy.

The title of the session is “The PGA-LIV Deal: Implications for the Future of Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Influence in the United States.”

Blumenthal said the committee wanted to know what was reached in the agreement.

“Americans deserve to know the structure and governance of this new entity,” Blumenthal said last week in a request for a hearing. “The key players in the deal are best positioned to provide this information, and they owe Congress — and the American people — answers in a public setting.”

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