PGA tour Board member Jimmy Dunne promised during a Senate hearing with the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Tuesday that circuit leaders would meet with families of 9/11 victims in response to the tour’s association with the Fund. of Saudi Public Investment (PIF), the financial backers of LIV Golf.
Dunne testified before the committee along with Ron Price, director of operations for the PGA Tour, answering several questions about last month’s announcement of a historical association between rival golf entities.
PGA Tour COO Ron Price, left, and PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne are sworn in during a Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs hearing in Washington, DC, Tuesday, July 11. of 2023. (Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Dunne and Price maintained that the announcement was a framework agreement and not a merger, noting that the only detail finalized was the end of all pending litigation between the Tour, Golf LIV and the DP world tour.
«We sought a peace that would not only end divisive litigation battles, but also uphold the PGA Tour’s structure, mission and longstanding support of charity,» Price said. «While negotiations towards a final agreement are currently underway, the framework agreement contains important safeguards that ensure the tour will operate fundamentally as it does today.
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«The tour will control its operations. The tour will control the board of directors of the new PGA Tour subsidiary, and the tour will be the governing body for competitive golf in connection with any combined golf operations.»
But the most significant pressure the PGA Tour faced during Tuesday’s hearing was PIF’s investment in the new «collectively owned for-profit entity» given its poor human rights record and allegations of «sports laundering.»
Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Dunne what he would say to the families of 9/11 victims, some of whom attended Tuesday.
PGA Tour Policy Board member Jimmy Dunne testifies during a Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee hearing examining the trade deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf Public Investment Fund on Capitol Hill on July 11, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
«I will now say what I said on September 12, 2001, what I said to my children growing up: Anyone remotely involved, anyone tangentially involved, anyone who benefits, anyone involved, we must go after them with extreme prejudice. to the full extent, to all its capacity.
«I honestly believe that our government, with President Bush, President Obama, our military and the brilliant SEALs did their job. And anyone involved in that has responded to justice.»
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Dunne vowed to meet with the families of 9/11 victims during his testimony, adding that he would not discriminate against anyone based on «common religion or skin color.»
Terry Strada, the president of 9/11 Families United whose husband was killed in the attacks, submitted a statement to the committee Tuesday morning, criticizing the tour for what she saw as «effectively turning around the world.» golf game to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Tara Strobert-Nolan, who lost her husband Steven Strobert on 9/11, sits with members of the 9/11 Justice Department during the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, ‘The PGA- LIV Deal: Implications for the Future of Golf and Saudi Arabian Influence in the United States,» in the Hart Building on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
«We know why the PGA Tour is doing it. It’s for the money,» Strada said. “But that’s not why the Saudis are doing it. They are doing it as a public relations ploy to distract attention from their authoritarian past and present, and especially from their unacknowledged guilt in supporting al Qaeda and the 9/11 hijackers.
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«We are here to see the representatives of the PGA Tour, who have signed on to help the kingdom try once again to fix its reputation, this time through sports laundering. Those same representatives of the PGA hope that those of us who we suffer our losses let’s move on». without even an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. They will stick to their Saudi talking points just like the LIV golfers did, simply stating that golf is ‘a force for good’.»
Part of the partnership framework includes an investment from PIF. Price revealed on Tuesday that the investment will be a «significant amount in excess of $1 billion.»