6 biggest takeaways from the PGA Tour-PIF Senate hearing

The PGA Tour representatives were in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 11, for the Senate hearing on its proposed partnership with the Public Investment Fund (PIF). The hearing went on for nearly three hours and revealed some surprising details about the proposals made by both former rivals turned partners.

While Tour Chief Operating Officer Ron Price and Board Member Jimmy Dunne showed up on the Tour's behalf, no representative from PIF was present.

The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations shared the 276-page document that revealed some interesting proposals made by both PGA and PIF under the new agreement.

While the documents shed light on the negotiations made by both parties, we will look at the six biggest takeaways from the PGA-PIF Senate hearing on Tuesday.

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Non-disparagement agreement and other important takeaways from the PGA Tour-PIF Senate hearing

1) PIF To invest more than $1 billion in PGA Tour

The PGA Tour Chief Operating Officer Ron Price revealed that PIF would invest more than $1 billion in the Tour after the deal would get finalized.

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2) Augusta National and R&A membership for Yasir Al- Rumayyan

One of the explosive revelations made on Tuesday was that PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan had asked for a lifetime membership in the prestigious Augusta National and R&A.

The proposal read, per Golf Monthly:

"HE Yasir Al-Rumayyan to become a Director of the International Golf Federation and to receive membership at Augusta and the R&A. As part of this, LIV is to review its senior management structure and Board composition."

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3) Two PIF-sponsored elevated PGA Tour events

Another important proposal was that PGA Tour would host two events sponsored by PIF/Aramco, and one of them would be played in Saudi Arabia.

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4) Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods-owned LIV Golf Team?

This was one point that stunned everyone. PIF had proposed that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy own one of the teams on the circuit and play at least 10 LIV Golf events.

"LIV is proposing that Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods would own teams and play in at least to 10 LIV events,” the presentation read as per the Golf.

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5) Removal of Greg Norman from the position of LIV Golf CEO

In a side letter, the PGA told PIF that it wanted Greg Norman out of the LIV CEO position once the agreement was signed.

The PGA Tour's Ed Herlihy issued the letter to Michael Klein, chief among the PIF representations, to dismiss Norman and Performance 54, the golf marketing company that played an important role in launching LIV.

The letter read, per the Golf:

"The services of Greg Norman and Performance 54 will cease upon the management transition to the PGA Tour contemplated by the Framework Agreement and in any event by no later than one month after.”

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6) The non-disparagement agreement

The non-disparagement agreement was brought in late by the PIF. The main motive of this clause was to bar Tour members from making defamatory statements against Saudi Arabia.

The clause read, per the Golf:

“Each party agrees and covenants that it will not at any time, directly or indirectly, make, publish or communicate to any person or entity or in any public forum any defamatory or disparaging remarks, comments, or statements concerning the other party their affiliates and ultimate beneficial owners or their respective businesses, directors, employees, officers, shareholders, members or advisors.”