US politicians want to stop PGA Tour from joining hands with LIV Golf

Many US senators called on law enforcement to investigate when they learned that the PGA Tour opened a joint venture with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) - the owner of LIV Golf League.

The most vocal group in recent days has come from the Democratic Party. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy of Connecticut have agreed with their counterpart Dick Durbin of Illinois to closely monitor developments and find ways to stop them.

"It's odd that just a few months ago, PGA Tour officials came into my office to talk about how the Saudis, because of their country's human rights abuses, were not qualified to own a major sport in the United States. Now the PGA Tour has made a U-turn, which makes me think they don't really care about human rights either," Senator Murphy wrote on Twitter on June 6. He lashed out immediately upon learning that the governing body of the top golf tournament in the United States and its ally, the DP World Tour, had formed a joint venture with PIF Saudi - the owner of the LIV Golf League.

Phil Mickelson is one of the stars joining the LIV Golf League - a system that receives financial support from the Saudi PIF. Photo: AP

Meanwhile, Senator Blumenthal said the PGA Tour, through the deal, put a price on human rights and betrayed the long history of sports and athletes contributing to social progress. "I will be watching the structure of the deal and its implications," the politician said.

Recently, California Congressman John Garamendi, also a Democrat, dealt another legal blow to the PGA Tour by introducing the “No Tax Exemption for Professional Sports” bill. The PGA Tour’s parent organization is currently exempt from corporate income tax due to its 501c6 non-profit status.

Congressman Garamendi said Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to use the PGA Tour to cover up its human rights record, and that PGA Tour Special Envoy Jay Monahan is a hypocrite for facilitating it and belittling the players who have turned down hundreds of millions of dollars to stand up for the cause.

But the PGA Tour board insists it is working with the Saudi PIF to end the golf divide after nearly two years of seeing each other as rivals.

On Golf Channel on June 8, Jimmy Dunnes - Vice President of the PGA Tour Policy Council - emphasized the purpose of implementing the shocking deal of modern golf. He said: "We want to end the hostility."

The message of “unifying golf” was mentioned on June 6, right in the title of the text announcing that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF Saudi - the major shareholder who decided that LIV Golf League will jointly own the legal entity, thereby combining the commercial activities of all three arenas. And when the PGA Tour accepted PIF Saudi as a partner, the two sides also ended the unfair competition lawsuit in the US court, which broke out in August 2022.

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