When will a congressional hearing on PGA Tour-PIF deal take place? Here’s what to expect

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf merger shocked the entire golf universe. Americans felt misled by the choice and chastised PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, while US Senators investigated the deal.

Recently, Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke about the congressional hearing on the proposed deal between the two rival series. He appeared on CBS's "Face The Nation" and admitted that the hearing might take place within a few weeks.

He said:

"I think a hearing is possible within weeks. The American people deserve a clear look at the facts here. Again, not prejudging what the conclusions will be. But, what the Saudis are doing here is not taking control of a single team or hiring one player. They are, in effect, taking charge of the entire sport and it’s not just a Saudi individual. It is the regime.”

Blumenthal added:

“There’s a real risk to American interests in the Saudis taking over this American institution. We want to get to the bottom of it."

Last Friday, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf voluntarily agreed to drop the claims. The PGA Tour is being investigated by the US Department of Justice for antitrust violations.

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Golfers' reaction to the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger

The PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and DP World Tour reached an agreement to form a new commercial entity, which has been in talks since the merger was announced. PGA Tour players, who stayed loyal to the Tour, felt betrayed by the announcement.

In a phone interview with Golfweek, Kyle Westmoreland said:

“Being part of the military, you can imagine where my thoughts fall on it. I’m a very small fish in this. Typical business first, moral ethics second. Current leadership has to figure out how to take ownership and convince the players, the members, that this is the right thing going forward but I think it is an uphill battle.”

Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open champion, was asked to comment on the merger at the pre-US Open press conference last week, but he simply chose to ignore. He said:

“I think it’s been asked and answered so we’re going to move on to U.S. Open topics."

Will Zalatoris, who received more than a $100 million contract from LIV Golf last year, was disappointed with the agreement. He was quoted as saying by Golfweek:

"I can see why it happened; I don’t agree with how it happened. I don’t think anyone does. When you get an email that says this is your tour and three people basically decide your future that’s kind of hard to accept that.”

Collin Morikawa ignored the question about the PGA Tour-PIF merger at the pre-US Open press conference, saying:

"Yeah. I don’t know anything. So I’ll talk about my FORE Youth Project that we’re doing. It’s this Maggie Hathaway project. It’s amazing. It’s in a community that is for underprivileged kids, kids that don’t have an opportunity to play."

Jon Rahm said ahead of the US Open:

"I think the general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit of betrayal from management. I understand why they had to keep it so secret."