‘No longer required’: Greg Norman sacked in LIV golf deal
Washington | Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to invest more than $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) in a new commercial entity controlled by the PGA Tour, and Greg Norman will be ousted as the CEO of LIV Golf if the business deal between the Saudis and the tour is finalised, a tour executive told US Congress on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
The agreement between the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the primary funder of LIV Golf, and the PGA Tour shocked the golf world when it was announced last month and led to probes by a Congress subcommittee, which summoned tour officials to the Capitol to testify under oath, and the Justice Department, which is looking into potential antitrust violations.
Norman jokes with countryman Cameron Smith during the latter’s win in a LIV event in the UK. Reuters
Among the subcommittee’s findings were that representatives of the tour and the Saudis discussed giving Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy their own LIV Golf teams, a proposal that apparently never reached either player.
The subcommittee chairman, Senator Richard Blumenthal, said he was troubled by the geopolitical implications of Saudi investment in American sports and efforts by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi leader, to whitewash the kingdom’s human rights abuses.
However, Republicans on the committee were more sympathetic to the PGA Tour and the existential threat it faced from the PIF, which controls $US600 billion in assets — roughly 500 times what the tour is worth.
“We’re here because we’re concerned about what it means for an authoritarian government to use its wealth to capture an American institution,” Senator Blumenthal said.
The PGA Tour and the Saudis announced on June 6 that they agreed to drop all lawsuits
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