WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Johnson is concerned about the agreement between the PGA Tour, the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund and maintaining the “purity” of golf.
Johnson said that he believes the agreement between major golf organizations is necessary to maintain competition in the sport. The Senate will be hearing the deal on Tuesday. Johnson acknowledged his concerns about PIF and LIV Golf’s ties with Saudi Arabia, but said that he wanted to play a “constructive” role in bridging this gap.
Johnson, in an interview on Thursday with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, said that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would invest in global sport if it wanted to. You have to accept and respond to this reality. “I believe that was the situation the PGA found itself in at the end.”
You may not like this reality. “I hated what happened, with players at each others’ throats,” he said, referring to the creation of LIV as a direct rival to the PGA Tour in 2021 that caused a rift within the golf community. “And I hope to play a positive role in helping repair that breach, bridge the gap.”
Two PGA Tour officials, Ron Price, chief operating officer of the tour, and Jimmy Dunne a PGA Board member who helped broker this deal, will be testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Tuesday. Johnson is the leading Republican on the committee.
More:PGA Tour claims deal with LIV golf is not a merge. What is it then? What do we know?
The hearing is expected to be closely watched, as lawmakers have raised concerns about antitrust and Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights in the past few weeks.
Johnson’s comments on the deal are below, ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.
Johnson wants the ‘purity’ of competition to be preserved
Johnson initially believed that Congress “shouldn’t be involved at this time” in the merger.
Johnson, a Democrat, from Connecticut, who chairs the subcommittee, said he wanted to ensure that the “purity” of competition is maintained in the newly created for-profit entity after the merger.
PGA Tour tournaments are played over 72 holes, with the field being cut after 36 holes. Even the greatest golfers cannot be guaranteed. The tour has plans to change some events in the coming year. The format is a reaction to the LIV format, which features 54-hole competitions without cuts and team and individual champions.
Johnson said in an interview that he wanted to keep the competitive nature and involvement of Saudi Arabia on the PGA Tour. He also pointed out a framework agreement signed between the two parties, which would grant the PGA Tour the regulatory oversight of the game of Golf.
Johnson said that the LIV competition is not the same as the PGA Tour. “And I certainly want to preserve the purity of competition — that’s what I am trying to do.”
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson will participate in a Senate Hearing on Tuesday about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf Deal.
What are your concerns about the deal?
After its sudden announcement in early June, the deal drew immediate criticism from both PGA Tour supporters and Capitol Hill lawmakers.
Some lawmakers questioned if the deal would violate antitrust laws, as it would create an international golf association. Senate Democrats also questioned the legitimacy of a deal that would allow a country known for human rights violations to own a large stake in an American institution. They accused Saudi Arabia of “sportswashing”.
Blumenthal wrote to PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in a letter last month that the tour’s decision, after having been outspokenly against the group – they suspended players who had joined LIV – raises serious questions about the reasons and terms of the announced agreement.
Johnson said Thursday that antitrust concerns were “legitimate” and that he thought the courts would rule in favor of “sports competition”.
Johnson, speaking of antitrust rulings, said that “in general, they have looked past the technical violations, and stated that it is necessary for these sports to collaborate, to collide, in order to keep the level of competition the public desires and, I would even say, demands”, Johnson.
Patrick Reed hits a tee-shot on the ninth green during the Pro-Am event as part of the LIV Golf Washington D.C.2023 event held at Trump National Golf Club, outside Washington DC. (Photo: Geoff Burke – USA TODAY Sports).
What is’sportswashing?
Johnson expressed his own concern about Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights, saying that he does not believe “that the Saudis could do anything to wash away” abuses such as the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sportswashing is the attempt by a country to use sport to improve its public image. Saudi Arabia has been making inroads in a variety of sports in the last few years, including by purchasing professional soccer players and clubs.
Johnson stated that “there are some realities you can’t just wash away.” They may try to do it. “I’m not certain how successful their attempt will be because, as we speak, everyone is aware of, as I mentioned, the Khashoggi murder.”
He said that the deal negotiated by Dunne was “for good of the sport of golf”, and that working with a Saudi Arabian country, whose $700 billion investment fund is a reality, might be a possibility.
Johnson jokingly quipped, “Should We Be Buying Oil From Saudi Arabia?” when asked about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in an organization based in the United States.
Johnson stated that “there are certain realities of the world you have to accept, whether you want to or not.” Johnson said, “I’d prefer as an American government to deal with Saudi Arabia than to enrage them and see them rush into the arms our enemies like China or Russia.”
What is Johnson expecting at the hearings?
According to Johnson, Tuesday’s hearing titled “The PGA/LIV Deal: Implications on the Future of Golf in the United States and Saudi Arabia’s influence” will allow the PGA Tour to “describe the challenges it faces managing professional golf.”
He hopes to hear about the “existential challenges” LIV Golf posed for the tour, and “why the PGA Tour reached out to them to try to work with them rather than fight them in court where nobody knew what the outcome would be other than that the lawyers would make a ton of money.”
He described the framework as “amorphous,” pointing out its lack of details and unanswered question about the future of golf. However, he suggested that the litigation between the PGA Tour LIV is not sustainable.
Johnson stated that “it’s not fair to compete when you have unlimited funds and are willing to invest in any type of business venture.” It wasn’t a fight between Saudi Arabia and the PGA. It was simply not.”
What’s next?
Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf and Commissioner at The Grange Golf Course in Adelaide Australia, gives a high-five to spectators during the second day of Liv Golf Adelaide on April 22, 2023. (Photo by Asankaratnayake/Getty Images).
Johnson and Blumenthal stated that due to “scheduling conflict”, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman and Yasir Al-Rumayyan (the governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, who would be the board chairman of this new golf entity) will not attend the meeting.
In their statement, the senators said that the two “have valuable information they can share about the operation of the Public Investment Fund and the future of LIV golf as well as Saudi Arabia’s plan to invest in sports such as golf.”
Johnson told the Journal Sentinel on Thursday that it was “hard” to predict whether or not the committee would hear Norman or al Rumayyan within the next few weeks.
He said that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf deal wasn’t top of mind for him.
If I was chairman of the Committee, I would focus on the mistakes we made during the pandemic. Johnson said that if he were chairman of the committee, he would focus on what we did wrong during the pandemic.
He said: “This will give the PGA a chance to explain itself. Whether the Saudis or the other side want to take the opportunity to clarify themselves, it’s up to them.”
Note from the editor: This version has been changed. Technically, the deal between two parties is not a merger but a business arrangement. )
