Tim Burchett, Chip Roy criticize Greg Norman and LIV Golf
“They wanted to talk about antitrust, and I could care less,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said in an interview. “It’s not Congress’s job. We’re a country of laws; take it up to the courts. That’s where it needs to be, not in the halls of Congress.
“How in the hell are we wasting any time talking about a bunch of millionaires and a golf game?” he continued. “This is all just Saudi propaganda.”
Having lured away some of the sport’s most high-profile players with staggering contract offers, LIV Golf has staged five tournaments and announced plans for a 14-event season next year. But the upstart venture continues to face backlash over its Saudi benefactors and has effectively cleaved the professional golf world in two. Norman came to Washington this week for meetings with lawmakers, trying to explain the LIV vision and also to lay out ways it feels the PGA Tour has hindered its entrance into the marketplace.
The group of visiting officials, which included Norman and Atul Khosla, LIV’s president and chief operating officer, met Tuesday and Wednesday with lawmakers from both chambers and both parties, according to a person familiar with the itinerary, including individual senators and representatives, the Republican Study Committee, some members of the Congressional Golf Caucus, some members of House leadership and some members of the House Judiciary Committee.
“Greg Norman had a very productive day on Capitol Hill today in front of some 60 members of Congress,” LIV spokesman Jonathan Grella said in a statement Wednesday. “His message about the benefits of competition was very well received, even if a couple members of Congress say otherwise.”
LIV Golf has courted controversy since its inception. The operation is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and has been accused of being a high-priced attempt to “sportswash” the country’s human rights violations, including the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The families of 9/11 victims also have protested at some events.
Currying favor on Capitol Hill is a delicate task for LIV officials because Saudi relations continue to be a divisive issue on both sides of the aisle. Before LIV’s event last weekend in Illinois, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) tweeted: “This weekend, a golf glove will try and cover a blood-stained hand as the LIV golf tournament comes to Chicago in the Saudi government’s continued, desperate…
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