PGA Tour on The Hill: What we know after officials grilled by Senate Subcommittee

PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price and Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne appeared on Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington D.C., to answer questions about the framework agreement between the Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and the LIV Golf League, which was announced on June 6.

The agreement stunned the golf world since the Tour and LIV Golf had engaged in a bitter war of words and litigation since LIV Golf launched in June of 2022. Price and Dunne were summoned to answer questions about the pending move and faced harsh questioning from chairman Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about Saudi Arabia's "sportswashing."

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Blumenthal used words such as "sellout" and "surrendering" and said the proposed deal "stinks."

“Today's hearing is about much more than the game of golf,” Blumenthal said in opening remarks. “It's about how a brutal, repressive regime can buy influence, indeed even take over a cherished American institution, to cleanse its public image. It's a regime that has reportedly killed journalists, jailed and tortured dissidents, fostered the war in Yemen and supported other terrorist activities, including the 9/11 attack on our nation.”

Documents involving PGA Tour/LIV Golf merger released by Senate subcommittee

Price said the Tour had no choice but to pursue an agreement, calling it an effort "to protect an American institution."

“While we had significant wins in the litigation, our players, fans, partners, employees, charities, and communities would lose in the long run,” Price said. “Instead of losing control of the PGA Tour, we pursued a piece that would not only end the divisive litigation battles but will also maintain the PGA Tour’s structure, mission and longstanding support for charity.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) came down on the side of the Tour being allowed to make the best deal for its financial future and questioned whether the government should have any role in private business decisions.

Opening comments made by PGA Tour COO Ron Price before the Senate subcommittee

Johnson, the subcommittee's ranking Republican, said “It would be grossly unfair to expect the PGA Tour to bear the full burden of holding Saudi Arabia accountable.

"Anyone who drives a car or uses oil-based products has helped fill the coffers of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. There's nothing wrong with the PGA Tour negotiating its survival,” Johnson said. “Negotiations are often delicate, mostly private, and I fear Congress and getting involved with this stage could have negative consequences. But I hope this hearing can be constructive and address the many legitimate questions the public has regarding the future of golf, and how to preserve the purity of competition at the highest levels of the game.”

Then there were theatrics from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).

Hawley harped on the fact that the Tour had a developmental circuit in China and didn't seem aware that it hasn't been operating since 2019, then demanded that Price commit to the Tour not holding a tournament in Russia -- an area that has never come under serious consideration by the Tour.

And Marshall somehow managed to work Hunter Biden and cocaine found in a White House visitor's lobby into the proceedings.

Here's what else we learned on Tuesday, both during the hearings and in 276 pages of documents released by the subcommittee that became public record. Much of the information in the documents contains proposals made by PIF or LIV and not all are likely to be part of the final agreement or have already been rejected by the PGA Tour.

∎ One PIF/LIV memo proposes that Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods take on the roles of LIV team captains and commit to play in at least 10 events. Given Wood's health, good luck with that.

∎ A team event with PGA, LIV and LPGA players is being proposed in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, with teams drafted live on TV.

∎ At least two of the PGA Tour's "elevated events" could be sponsored by the PIF or Aramco, its state-run oil company.

∎ Another proposal is that LIV golfers would be able to return to the PGA Tour next year and would get world ranking points retroactively. The proposal calls for the top-24 players on the LIV standings to earn exemptions into all four major championships next year. However, the return of the LIV players may not be that simple or that quick.

∎ Documents showed that Dunne made contact with PIF governor through British businessman Roger Devlin as early as Dec. 8, 2022. Devlin has contacts with British businesswoman Amanda Staveley, who helped the PIF purchase soccer team Newcastle United. Devlin emailed Dunne on Jan. 3 and told him PIF officials believed they had enough money to outlast the PGA Tour in court. Negotiations began in earnest in April.

∎ Greg Norman is out. Internal memos included in the documents released by the subcommittee indicated the Tour wanted the LIV CEO fired as part of the agreement. During the hearing, Price said that the Tour has a veteran tournament management staff and Norman's "position" would not be needed.

Blumenthal pressed the issue: “Just to be clear, [Norman] is out of a job?

“If we reach a definitive agreement, we would not have a requirement for that type of position," Price said.

∎ Another memo made the odd proposal that PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan receive memberships to the Augusta National Golf Club and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. Both are private clubs and zealously guard their own invitation policies. In other words, no one tells Augusta National who they have to invite.

In an interview on Golf Channel after the hearing, Blumenthal wanted to know why the PGA Tour did consider other financial options to combat LIV Golf other than a merger. The Tour has said in recent weeks that the cost of litigation was draining its reserves.

Price said the legal battle was “unsustainable.”

Not now, Blumenthal told Golf Channel.

"They did not explore other options with other countries," Blumenthal said. "They certainly have options now. The litigation is done. ... should we simply cave to other countries because they have a lot of money?"

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What we know about Tour's proposed deal with PIF after Senate hearing