Less than two weeks before a planned hearing about the LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger, Congress is having a hard time getting those involved to discuss it.
A Senate subcommittee is looking to hold a hearing about the PGA Tour’s planned merger with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which owns LIV. However, many of the witnesses they’d most like to speak with don’t seem to be forthcoming about their time.
Per the New York Times, LIV Golf is refusing to let CEO Greg Norman speak to the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“We have requested testimony from Greg Norman, and unless there is a reasonable explanation for his absence — which we have not yet been provided — Greg Norman is who we expect to appear,” Maria McElwain, the communications director for Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat subcommittee chair, said in a statement.
LIV has instead offered to send Gary Davidson, the current acting chief operating officer, instead of Norman. According to the Times, LIV says that Davidson was more involved in the day-to-day of operations and details surrounding the deal that shocked the golf world. However, neither Norman nor Davidson was involved in the secret negotiations that led to the deal.
The PGA Tour send a statement to the Times, saying they were “cooperating with the subcommittee’s requests for information and having productive conversations with them about who will represent the PGA Tour on July 11th.
“We look forward to answering their questions about the framework agreement that keeps the PGA Tour as the leader of professional golf’s future and benefits our players, our fans, and our sport.”
