Senate Democrat calls on Saudi official to testify in probe of PGA Tour-LIV merger

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to the leader of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) calling on him to testify in the Senate’s investigation into the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-owned LIV Golf.

The fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, has previously declined invitations to testify, citing his position as an official in the Saudi government. 

“PIF is a commercial entity with extensive business dealings in the United States. PIF’s recent dealings with the PGA Tour demonstrate that it intends to be much more than a passive investor in the American enterprises in which it houses its considerable wealth,” Blumenthal wrote. 

“PIF cannot have it both ways: if it wants to engage with the United States commercially, it must be subject to United States law and oversight. That oversight includes this Subcommittee’s inquiry,” he continued.

If Al-Rumayyan refuses to testify at a Sept. 13 hearing, Blumenthal said he “will be forced to consider other legal methods to compel PIF’s compliance,” he wrote.

The proposed PGA Tour-LIV merger has faced government scrutiny as the Saudi investment fund increases its American holdings. If the merger goes through, the Saudi state would effectively own the world’s largest and most prestigious golf league and the revenues that come with it.

Blumenthal has previously stated a merger would be bad for U.S. interests because it props up the Saudi government, which has been accused of numerous human rights abuses.

“Today’s hearing is about much more than the game of golf,” Blumenthal said at a committee meeting last month. “It’s about how a brutal, repressive regime can buy influence — indeed even take over a cherished American institution — to cleanse its public image.”

After the hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questioned the league’s tax-exempt status given merger talks.

“They’re taking all this foreign money. They’re making a lot of money,” Hawley said. “There’s gobs of money involved here. Why are they tax-exempt? I don’t think I quite understand that.”

LIV and PGA Tour were initially bitter rivals when the Saudi league started last year. LIV lured the world’s best golfers with extremely large signing bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars or more, causing PGA Tour to ban those who left. The merger proposal, announced in June, surprised the golf world.