WASHINGTON — 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 Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., 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 $600 billion Public Investment Fund. In response, Price and Dunne said going into business with outside investors would not prevent LIV Golf and the PIF from continuing to compete with the tour and use its vast resources to sign top players.
“My entire concern here is to put this divisive period behind us, and for the sake of players, fans, sponsors and charities, unite the game of golf again,” Dunne said.
The deal to bring Saudi investment into the PGA Tour shocked the golf world and also has invited scrutiny from the Justice Department, which is looking into potential antitrust violations.
“There is something that stinks about this path that you’re on right now because it is a surrender, and it is all about the money, and that is the reason for the backlash that you’re seeing, Mr. Price,” Blumenthal said. “The equity ownership interest that the Saudis will have … gives them financial dominance. They control the purse strings.”
Critics of the Saudi investment in golf have pointed to the kingdom's poor human rights record and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence concluded was likely approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an allegation the crown prince denies. The PIF has bought its way into other sports including soccer — it owns Newcastle United of the English Premier League — and Formula One racing.
Republicans on the committee, including ranking member Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, were less critical of the tour leaders for negotiating with the Saudis and expressed reservations about Congress getting involved in a private business deal that hasn't been completed. Johnson suggested that Saudi involvement in sports ultimately could improve human rights in the kingdom.
“If the kingdom's involvement in golf and other sports helps it to modernize or offer rights to women, wouldn't that be a good thing?” Johnson said.
The documents released by the subcommittee also detail the roles of people on the Saudi side of the negotiations, notably Amanda Staveley, a British investment banker who helped broker the Newcastle deal and now sits on the team's board, and Roger Devlin, a British businessman. Devlin was the first to approach Dunne about the prospect of a deal between the tour and LIV, the documents show.
A memo from Staveley's firm titled “The Best of Both Worlds” includes the proposal that Woods and McIlroy take ownership of LIV teams and that each of them play in 10 LIV events per year. There is no indication in the documents that either Woods or McIlroy, both of whom remained loyal to the PGA Tour in its dispute with LIV, were ever informed of the idea.
Woods has played only twice this year and is recovering from ankle surgery to address complications from a car crash in Los Angeles in early 2021 that he has said will severely limit his playing schedule going forward.
Among the other proposals included in the memo are a mixed-gender, LIV-style team event with qualifying in Saudi Arabia and concluding in Dubai; awarding world ranking points to LIV events, including retroactively; and PIF sponsorship of two elevated PGA Tour events, including one in Saudi Arabia.
None of those proposals was included in the framework agreement that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the PIF, and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan signed on June 6. The agreement called for the parties to drop all lawsuits and to combine the commercial interests of the PGA Tour, LIV and the European tour into a new, for-profit company while maintaining the PGA Tour's nonprofit status.
The proposal to replace Norman as LIV's CEO was included in a side agreement that was negotiated ahead of the announcement but was never executed. Asked by Blumenthal whether Norman was out of a job, Price said that if the tour and the PIF complete their business deal, the tour would control LIV and Norman's job would be eliminated.
“We would no longer have a requirement for that type of position,” Price said.
Emails obtained by the committee showed that Dunne and fellow PGA Tour board member Ed Herlihy discussed with Monahan the prospect of Dunne and Herlihy replacing Norman.
Norman remains in the CEO role, although he has been largely sidelined as the public face of LIV since the deal was announced. He was invited to testify at Tuesday’s hearing along with Al-Rumayyan; both declined. Monahan also did not testify because he is recovering from an unspecified medical situation that kept him out of work for a month; he has said he plans to return next week.
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