5 things you NEED to know from the remarkable PGA Tour-LIV Golf hearing

Two influential PGA Tour members have testified in a Congressional hearing defending their circuit’s shock framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Jimmy Dunne – the independent director with the PGA Tour who helped orchestrate the deal – and Chief Operating Officer Ron Price were both grilled over their reasons for agreeing to the so-called merger at a US Senate Subcommittee hearing in Washington DC on Tuesday.

Here are five key takeaways from the hearing…

• Document shows LIV Golf plans for Woods and McIlroy

• PGA Tour member resigns with “serious concerns”

The PIF investment 

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund pledged to bankroll LIV Golf to the tune of £2 billion when it emerged as a big player in the sport. It remains to be seen how much PIF will now invest into a new for-profit entity that plans to unite golf’s warring factions, but things became slightly clearer in this hearing.

Dunne told Senator Richard Blumenthal that the Saudis would invest a “significant amount” in the proposed deal, before claiming the total would be “north of $1 billion” when pressed on the issue. It was also stressed that any additional investment would be in the PGA Tour’s “complete control” as their board of directors have “absolute control of future funding.”

Litigation could have ended PGA Tour 

The PGA Tour’s COO Ron Price effectively explained in his opening testimony that his circuit had no choice but to unite with PIF amid impending litigation, which has now been dropped as a result of the truce. “When the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour launched its inaugural series in 2022, the Tour faced an unprecedented attack,” he said.

Price added the litigation was “undermining growth of our sport and threatening the very survival of the PGA Tour and it was unsustainable.”

He continued: “While we had significant wins in the litigation, our players, fans, partners, employees, charities, and communities would lose in the long run. Instead of losing control of the PGA Tour, an American institution and tradition, we pursued a peace that would not only end the divisive litigation battles, but would also maintain the PGA Tour’s structure, mission, and longstanding support for charity.”

Dunne: ‘No merger, no deal’

Investment banking expert Dunne was credited for opening unprecedented lines of communication with the soon-to-be returning PGA Tour CEO Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan before the shock June 6 announcement.

He has, however, reiterated that no deal has been done as of yet, admitting the “rollout was very misleading and inaccurate, which is everyone’s fault.”

Dunne says “there is no merger”, rather just “an agreement to try to get an agreement” for the betterment of the sport.

PGA Tour accepted their fate  

In the hearing, Senator Blumenthal took the PGA Tour to task over whether they truly needed Saudi riches to be sustainable. When asked by Blumenthal why the Tour needed Saudi revenue, COO Price replied: “We did not seek their money. We could go elsewhere… but we would still have the threat of a $700b threat stealing our players.”

It seems the PGA Tour felt they did not have the resources to fight the bottomless pockets of the PIF-backed LIV enterprise and hold onto their biggest assets.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.