The panel will have to wait to hear from LIV CEO Greg Norman and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi national fund behind the rival circuit.
The Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations said Ron Price, chief operating officer of the PGA Tour, and board member Jimmy Dunne have agreed to appear on July 11.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the panel, and Ranking Member Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Norman and Al-Rumayyan cited scheduling conflicts as why they weren’t could not appear.
LIV Golf is playing outside of London this week. His next tournament isn’t until early August.
“We appreciate the PGA Tour working with us and look forward to a solid and thoughtful exchange with Ron Price and Jimmy Dunne on July 11, focusing on the details and context of this agreement and what it means for this cherished American institution,” Blumenthal and Johnson said in a joint statement.
They said they regretted that Al-Rumayyan and Norman’s schedules prevented them from attending the hearing because “they have valuable information to share on the operations of the Public Investment Fund, the future of LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s plans to invest in golf and other sports”. .”
“As per our subcommittee’s practice, we look forward to working with the two witnesses to find a mutually agreeable date for them to appear in the very near future,” they said.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan walks away with ‘medical condition’ on June 13 and handed day-to-day operations to Price and Tyler Dennis, the PGA Tour president.
The New York Times said LIV instead proposed Gary Davidson, who is LIV’s acting chief operating officer. He quoted someone familiar with LIV’s thinking as saying Davidson was more involved in the day-to-day operations of the league and the ramifications of the deal.
Norman was not involved in the seven weeks of negotiations that led to the framework agreementin which the PIF, the PGA Tour and the European Tour would combine commercial activities and rights in a separate for-profit company.
Neither does Price. THE only the people involved in the transaction were Al-Rumayyan, Monahan and PGA Tour board members Dunne and Ed Herlihy.
The title of the hearing is “The PGA-LIV Agreement: Implications for the Future of Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Influence in the United States.”
Blumenthal had said that the the panel wants to know what happened in the agreement.
“Americans deserve to know what the structure and governance of this new entity will be,” Blumenthal said last week, asking for the hearing. “The major players in the deal are in the best position to provide this information, and they owe Congress — and the American people — answers in a public setting.”
