Ousting Norman, giving Woods and McIlroy LIV teams were discussed with PGA Tour, documents show
- Documents released as part of US Senate investigation shed light on discussions surrounding merger talks between golf’s rival factions
- Talks culminated in a framework agreement announced last month between the tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund
The negotiators of a business deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi funders of LIV Golf discussed ousting LIV chief executive Greg Norman and giving Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy their own LIV teams, according to documents obtained by Congress.
Those were among the many proposals to unify golf’s rival factions that representatives of the PGA Tour and the Saudi government discussed this spring during their hasty negotiations. The talks culminated in a framework agreement announced last month between the tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Details of those talks were made public ahead of a hearing Tuesday by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is looking into the agreement because of the geopolitical implications of Saudi investment in American sports.
“We’re here because we’re concerned about what it means for an authoritarian government to use its wealth to capture an American institution,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, the subcommittee chairman.
The Saudis have agreed to invest “north of $1 billion” into a new for-profit company the tour intends to create, Ron Price, the PGA Tour’s chief operating officer, testified at the hearing.
Blumenthal repeatedly pressed Price and Jimmy Dunne, a PGA Tour board member and a key negotiator of the Saudi deal, on why the tour did not seek alternative sources of funding to compete with LIV Golf and its backer, Saudi Arabia’s US$600 billion Public Investment Fund.
