Monahan, Al-Rumayyan And Norman Invited To Testify At Senate Hearing

The PGA Tour, PIF and LIV Golf officials have been invited to testify at the hearing scheduled for 11 July

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf flags
Officials from the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the PIF have been invited to testify at a Senate hearing
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mike Hall
By Mike Hall
published

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) governor Yasir al-Rumayyan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman have been asked to testify at a Senate hearing scheduled for next month.

The news comes following the PGA Tour’s deal with PIF that will see the organisations, along with the DP World Tour, form a new entity to oversee the running of the elite game.

It didn’t take long until questions over the deal were asked, with the US Senate launching an investigation into the shock merger a matter of days after it was announced.

Monahan is set to become the CEO of the as-yet-unnamed entity with al-Rumayyan its chairman, although Norman had not been included in the statement announcing the deal. However, the three have been asked to testify at the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, scheduled by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) for 11 July.

A letter sent to Monahan asked that he "be prepared to discuss the circumstances and terms of the planned agreement between PGA Tour and the PIF, how any new entities formed through the planned agreement will be structured, the expected impact on PGA Tour and LIV Golf players, and the anticipated role of the PIF in US professional golf."

In an announcement on Twitter, Blumenthal wrote: “Today I am officially inviting the PGA Tour Commissioner, LIV Golf CEO, & Saudi Public Investment Fund Governor to testify in front of my Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. We need to get to the bottom of the planned agreement between the PGA & Saudi-funded LIV Golf.”

A statement accompanying the tweet read: “Our goal is to uncover the facts about what went into the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund and what the Saudi takeover means for the future of this cherished American institution and our national interest.

“Americans deserve to know what the structure and governance of this new entity will be. Major actors in the deal are best positioned to provide this information, and they owe Congress - and the American people -answers in a public setting.”

Monahan, who is currently taking time away from his role to recover from a “medical situation,” Al-Rumayyan and Norman have been requested to respond to the invite by 28 June.

Mike Hall
Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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