The PGA Tour’s lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, against the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf League – Here’s what you should know!
The PGA Tour’s lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, against the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf League – Here’s what you should know! Since last year, the PGA Tour has talked to the White House and Congress about its worries about LIV Golf, a rival league that is funded by Saudi Arabia. With plans for LIV Golf coming up, the PGA Tour started quietly talking to the White House and lawmakers on both sides of the fairway in the second quarter of 2021, lobbyists and people with knowledge of the situation have said.
The Big Money
According to the most recent filing, the PGA Tour spent $120,000 in the second quarter of 2022, which ran from April to June 30. Records show that this is the most the PGA Tour has spent on lobbying in a given time period since it spent the same amount in the first half of 2004 on federal credits and grants for a youth golf charity program. In addition, the tour put pressure on President Joe Biden’s office as recently as the second quarter of this year, a new filing shows.
Previous Efforts to lobby
Last year, lobbying led Biden’s staff to suggest that the PGA Tour representative and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S., Rima bint Bandar Al Saud, meet to talk about a golf tournament that would be paid for by Saudi Arabia. However, an anonymous informer said that the PGA Tour didn’t hold the meeting because tour officials didn’t think it would make the Saudis change their ways very much.
More on LIV Golf and PGA Tour
LIV Golf reportedly got another $2 billion in Saudi funding last spring. The first tournament was held last month in England, and the next one will be at former President Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, next week. Greg Norman, a former PGA Tour star, will be in charge of the tournament. In addition, some of the best golfers on the US PGA Tour, like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, have signed contracts with the league. Both are said to have signed deals with LIV Golf that are worth more than $100 million.
Who was suspended from the PGA Tour, and why?
Johnson and Mickelson are among the golfers who have been kicked off the PGA Tour because they played on the LIV Tour. People say that the Department of Justice is looking into whether the PGA Tour has done anything that impairs competition.
What’s going on between the United States and Saudi Arabia?
US officials have been looking into Saudi Arabia for years, including after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, who worked for the Washington Post and lived in the US. Biden recently went to Saudi Arabia to try to fix things with the country, but he has been criticized for striking the crown prince. In addition, professional golf has become a source of tension between the US and Saudi Arabia. At a recent press conference, Jay Monahan, the head of the PGA Tour, grabbed the LIV League.
Trump and his Truth Social post
In a recent Truth Social post, Trump praised LIV Golf and told golfers to take the money that the Saudi-backed league was offering. Additionally, Trump said that the PGA Tour and LIV would merge, but there is no evidence yet that this will happen.
