{"id":1970363,"date":"2023-07-11T23:41:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T03:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pga-tour-officials-defend-pending-merger-with-saudi-backed-liv-golf\/"},"modified":"2023-07-11T23:41:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T03:41:37","slug":"pga-tour-officials-defend-pending-merger-with-saudi-backed-liv-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pga-tour-officials-defend-pending-merger-with-saudi-backed-liv-golf\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour officials stand by their decision to merge with LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpga-tour-officials-defend-pending-merger-with-saudi-backed-liv-golf%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1970363&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0712\/c583fa22-f15d-40cc-8433-cefd454f192b\/audio.mp3?length=6253965&#038;duration=521\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<h2>PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf Merger Sparks Debate<\/h2>\n<p>Senior PGA Tour officials and politicians clashed over the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf during a recent Senate subcommittee hearing.<\/p>\n<p>In a packed room, PGA Tour Chief Operating Officer Ron Price and PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne argued that the merger is necessary for the future of the PGA Tour and the game of golf.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe really faced a choice. One option was to continue the very expensive, disruptive, and divisive litigation,\u201d said Mr. Price.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd we faced a real threat that LIV Golf, which is 100 percent financed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, would become the leader of professional golf.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The framework agreement for the merger was announced on June 6, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pga-tour-officials-defend-pending-merger-with-saudi-backed-liv-golf\/\" title=\"PGA Tour officials stand by their decision to merge with LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia.\">final deal deadline set<\/a> for December 31. Both parties have agreed to drop pending litigation unless an extension is reached.<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing, Mr. Price emphasized that the PGA Tour-LIV Golf dispute was hindering the growth of the sport and jeopardizing the PGA Tour&#8217;s survival.<\/p>\n<p>Notable golf stars, including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Sergio Garcia, have already left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. Mr. Price expressed a desire to welcome them back into the PGA Tour fold.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5064794\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/02\/17\/GettyImages-1246502573-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/figure>\n<p>However, some senators criticized the PGA Tour for giving in to Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns and funds LIV Golf. They accused the PGA Tour of prioritizing money over principles.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Republicans defended the merger, arguing that it could bring more freedom and modernity to Saudi Arabia. They urged Congress to allow the parties to complete the deal.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights concerns were also raised during the hearing, with Senator Rand Paul expressing opposition to the merger due to Saudi Arabia&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nba-sells-sneakers-from-chinese-company-suspected-of-using-uyghur-forced-labor\/\" title=\"NBA Sells Sneakers From Chinese Company Suspected of Using Uyghur Forced Labor\">alleged human rights violations<\/a>. However, PGA Tour officials assured that they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rubio-slams-woke-corporate-hypocrites-for-working-with-china\/\" title=\"Rubio Slams \u2018Woke Corporate Hypocrites\u2019 for Working With China\">condemn human rights abuses<\/a> and have no plans for competition in countries like China and Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the PGA Tour stated that players will still have the freedom to express their opinions, unlike the NBA, which has faced criticism for its players&#8217; silence on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/saudi-court-jails-womens-rights-activist-posing-challenge-for-biden\/\" title=\"Saudi court jails women\u2019s rights activist, posing challenge for Biden\">human rights issues<\/a> in China.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing also had a poignant moment when family members of 9\/11 victims, who hold Saudi Arabia responsible for supporting the attackers, were present in the audience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senior PGA Tour officials and Republicans supported the PGA Tour&#8217;s merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, while Democrats criticized it at a Senate subcommittee hearing. In the presence of a large audience, PGA Tour COO Ron Price and board member Jimmy Dunne defended the merger before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on July 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1797,"featured_media":1970364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1970363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1797"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1970363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1970364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1970363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1970363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1970363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}