WASHINGTON – Negotiators of a business deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi financiers of LIV Golf discussed ousting LIV boss Greg Norman and providing Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy with dedicated LIV teams, according to documents obtained by Congress.
These were among the many proposals for unifying the rival gulf factions that officials from the PGA Tour and the Saudi government debated during their hasty negotiations this spring. The talks culminated in one framework agreement announced between the tour and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund last month.
The Deal to bring Saudi investment into the PGA Tour shocked the Gulf world and called for a close scrutiny by Congress and the Justice Department, which is investigating possible antitrust violations. The Standing Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., released the documents detailing the negotiations ahead of a hearing Tuesday at which one of the deal’s architects and a PGA Tour executive were scheduled to testify.
The subcommittee wants to find out how the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s investment in golf aligns with the Kingdom’s geopolitical interests. In his opening remarks, Blumenthal said he wanted to uncover the reasons behind the involvement of a “brutal, repressive regime” in a popular American sports institution whose leaders had made moral arguments against LIV players accepting Saudi money before their deal with the Saudis.
“We are addressing issues that go to the heart of the future of this sport and other sports in the United States and what happened that caused the PGA Tour to change its position,” Blumenthal said. “Was it just the hope of ending the litigation, or was it also the unspecified amount of Saudi investment that would result? How much money has PIF offered to the PGA Tour and what other sources of funding have been sought as an alternative?”
Critics of Saudi investment in golf pointed to the kingdom’s poor human rights record and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence sources say was likely sanctioned by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a claim the Crown Prince denies. The PIF has bought into other sports, including football – it owns Newcastle United of the English Premier League – and Formula 1 racing.
The documents released on Tuesday also detailed 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 PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne about the prospect of a deal between the tour and LIV, the documents show.
A memo from Staveley’s company, titled “Best of Both Worlds,” suggests that Woods and McIlroy take over the LIV teams and that each of them attend 10 LIV events a year. There is no indication in the documents that neither Woods nor McIlroy, both of whom remained loyal to the PGA Tour in the dispute with LIV, were ever briefed on the idea.
Woods has only played twice this year and is recovering from ankle surgery stemming from the complications of a car accident in Los Angeles in early 2021, which he said will significantly limit his game schedule going forward.
Other proposals included in the memo include a LIV-style mixed-gender team event with qualification in Saudi Arabia and graduation in Dubai; Allocation of world ranking points to LIV events, also retrospectively; and PIF sponsorship of two high-profile PGA Tour events, including one in Saudi Arabia.
None of these proposals were included in the framework agreement signed on June 6 by PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. The agreement required the parties to drop all lawsuits and combine the commercial interests of the PGA Tour, LIV and the European Tour into a new, for-profit entity while retaining the PGA Tour’s non-profit status.
The proposal to replace Norman as CEO of LIV was included in a side agreement negotiated prior to the announcement. However, the committee could not determine whether the side agreement was implemented. Emails received by the committee indicated that Dunne and fellow PGA Tour board member Ed Herlihy had discussed with Monahan the prospect of Dunne and Herlihy replacing Norman.
“Jimmy, I discussed the idea of you supervising LIV with Jay. Really enjoyed it,” Herlihy wrote on May 15.
“You and me,” Dunne replied.
Norman will retain the role of CEO, although he has been largely sidelined as the public face of LIV since the deal was announced. He was invited to testify with Al-Rumayyan at Tuesday’s hearing; both declined. Monahan also did not testify because he is recovering from an unspecified medical condition that left him disabled for a month; He has said he wants to return next week.
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