A U.S. Senate subcommittee is asking the PGA Tour and others to submit records as it launches a probe into the proposed alliance between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and LIV Golf.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent letters Monday to PGA commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV commissioner Greg Norman asking to see documents, emails and other records having to do with merger.
Last week, the three golf tours and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf, said they intend to join under one umbrella organization. Monahan will serve as chief executive and Yasir al-Rumayyan from PIF will be the chairman, under the plans.
LIV Golf began play last year when the Saudis promised guaranteed, multimillion contracts to lure big-name players from the PGA Tour. At the time, Monahan and others blasted the act of taking money from Saudi Arabia, citing its human-rights record and its involvement in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“While few details about the agreement are known, PIF’s role as an arm of the Saudi government and PGA Tour’s sudden and drastic reversal of position concerning LIV Golf raise serious questions regarding the reasons for and terms behind the announced agreement,” Blumenthal, the chair of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote in the letter.
When the announcement was made about the tours’ merger, Blumenthal showed his anger on Twitter.
“We should focus outrage, & potential action, where it belongs — PGA betrayal, Saudi human rights abuses, threats to legal norms & national security,” he tweeted.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf were given until June 26 to turn over the documentation.
–Field Level Media