- The Washington Times - Tuesday, July 11, 2023

A Senate subcommittee released documents Tuesday that revealed new details about how the framework agreement between the PGA and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf came about, documents that reveal the entities have plans that would dramatically transform professional golf. 

The proposed details included the creation of a “large-scale superstar LIV-style team” event that would take place in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. The entities also floated Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy overseeing the ownership of two LIV Golf teams and participating in LIV Golf events that would be sponsored by the Saudi Public Investment fund (PIF) or the Saudi oil company Aramco. As a result of the agreement, Greg Norman would also stand to be removed from his role as LIV CEO. 

The documents — which contained a 10-page summary document and 265 pages of emails — were disclosed by the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which held a hearing Tuesday on the proposed agreement between the two parties. 

According to the documents, officials met in April when Saudi representatives shared a slideshow titled “The Best of Both Words” in which they floated a number of proposals for a “long-term agreement.” 

The two sides began discussions about a potential agreement to work together as far back as December 2022 when British businessman Roger Devlin reached out to PGA board member Jimmy Dunne, who suggested they try to meet in the new year to discuss details. 

After meeting in April, the two sides met on several occasions between May and June — gathering in Venice on May 11-12, San Francisco on May 28-30 and New York on June 5-6. Participants included PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

According to the documents, the proposals call for Al-Rumayyan to earn membership to Augusta National Golf Club and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in Saint Andrews.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Dune and PGA COO Ron Price defended the deal with LIV, telling members of Congress that the framework agreement has not been finalized but that such a deal was necessary to stave off competition from the upstart golf group.

Price told the committee that the Saudi group is poised to invest more than $1 billion in a joint venture led by the PGA Tour. 

• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.

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