PGA official pledges golfers will be able to criticize Saudi Arabia if the tour merges with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf

• A top PGA official said golfers would still be able to criticize Saudi Arabia if the tour merges with LIV Golf.
• Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal expressed concern over a potential non-disparagement clause.
• Blumenthal also accused the PGA of selling out to the controversial Saudi league.

PGA Tour Chief Operating Officer Ron Price testified on Tuesday that golfers would be allowed to still criticize the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia if the tour merges with the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

"We do not plan on enforcing anything against our players," Price testified after repeated questioning from senators, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the panel that held the hearing into the merger. "They are free to speak their mind."

Blumenthal pointed to the fact that initial agreement between the PGA and LIV Golf has a broad non-disparagement clause. The Connecticut Democrat asked whether that current clause or a final agreement could prevent golfers from discussing Saudi Arabia's human rights record or any other criticism they may have of the country. The Kingdom's Public Investment Fund owns LIV and would have a key seat at the table on determining the future of major professional golf if the merger goes through.

Price also said that PGA would not agree to a hypothetical restriction on a show of support for LGBTQ+ rights similar to the de facto ban FIFA imposed on soccer players during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Multiple European nations wanted to wear armbands to show support for LGBTQ+ rights in the face of Qatar's law that makes same-sex relationships illegal. FIFA threatened sanctions if they did.

"We would never impose it," Price said. "We determine where our events are played and we not conduct tournaments under those rules." 

Saudi Arabia has faced decades of criticism over its human rights record.

Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have condenmed trials that led to executions for  "murder, robbery, rape, drug smuggling and terrorism-related crime." Women also continue to face persistent discrimination. Criticism of the royal family, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), is stifled and punishment for such dissent is severe. The US intelligence community assessed that MBS gave the order for Saudi forces to capture or kill Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was brutally murdered in 2018 and his body dismembered.

Families of some of the victims killed in the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks have also accused the Saudi government of being culpable in the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans. As The Wilson Center recounts, the 9/11 commission was unable to publish the full findings of its investigation into possible links between some of the hijackers and the Saudi government.

Blumenthal cited this record in calling out the PGA for selling out for the LIV merger.

"My hope is that you will resist those buckets full of money, I think a lot of players, a lot of sponsors, a lot of charities, and, frankly, the 9/11 families, are hoping that the PGA tour will stand up and, frankly, avoid the sellout that this deal seems to be," the senator said.

Price said that discussions for the Saudi investment in a future PGA-LIV organization have included amounts "north of $1 billion." He and PGA Tour member Jimmy Dunne, who helped broker an initial agreement with LIV Golf, also repeatedly stressed that the PGA felt it had little choice but to try to find as peace with LIV. Otherwise, the Saudi-backed league would have continued to try to poach the PGA's top players.

The panel's investigation will continue, Blumenthal vowed.

Republicans were more skeptical to whether it should have even been started in the first place.

Sen. Ron Johnson, the top Republican on the panel, chided Blumenthal for characterizing the merger as a sellout. Johnson added that the hearing did uncover useful information, but now it is time for lawmakers to give the PGA space to negotiate.

"I really do we can give them the time, the space, and the privacy working with their members ... to conclude this deal," Johnson said.