Rep. Chip Roy blasts LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman over Saudi ties: ‘pimping a billion dollars’

Texas Republicans have mostly avoided taking sides in the professional golf showdown between the PGA Tour and the upstart, Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour, but not Texas U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose Hill Country district includes Northwest San Antonio.

The upstart golf league is funded by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia as part of its decadelong plan to diversify its economy from reliance on oil and increase tourism. In contrast to other professional sports, professional golfers have traditionally not enjoyed guaranteed contracts irrespective of performance or health, instead earning winnings based on their tournament finishes.

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LIV has exploited that, offering tens or even hundreds of millions to poach some of the world’s top players. The CEO is Australian golf legend Greg Norman, who is also a longtime friend and supporter of former President Donald J. Trump.

Norman visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday to address a conservative House caucus and press his case that the PGA Tour had violated federal antitrust laws in its efforts to keep players from jumping ship. He may have expected a friendly reception given his close ties to Trump, who has backed the Saudi league and hosted one of their tournaments at his New Jersey club this summer, but Roy was evidently having none of it.

“Don’t come in here and act like you’re doing some great thing while you’re pimping a billion dollars of Saudi Arabian money and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the United States,” Roy told reporters following the event, as reported by The Hill. Roy then described Norman’s visit to the Capitol as “PR for Saudi Arabia — it’s PR for LIV Golf.”

Jonathan Grella, a spokesman for LIV Golf, said Roy’s comments didn’t capture the positive reception that Norman got on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“LIV’s message about the benefits of competition was very well received, even if a couple members of Congress say otherwise,” he said.

‘We should be concerned’

The LIV Golf and PGA Tour faceoff has defied neat political categorization. 

Players who signed onto LIV have been banned from PGA Tour events, although they are still able to play in major championships or in certain international tournaments if they qualify. Trump and some of his allies have sided with LIV over the PGA Tour. And shortly before President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia this year, news leaked that his Justice Department was investigating the PGA Tour for anticompetitive behavior against LIV.

Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, wrote to Biden shortly after, saying “the timing raises questions about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in both the underlying antitrust investigation and Monday’s media reports of the investigation, as well as potential foreign lobbying issues relating to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Roy said he also reached out to the Department of Justice asking them to review whether Norman and LIV Golf need to register as agents of a foreign government, as he believes they are effectively engaging in public relations for Saudi Arabia. Grella, the LIV spokesman, said the league’s attorneys advised them that they are not required to register.

“They were literally saying nothing about Saudi Arabia, just saying, ‘Oh, we want competition and everything is fine and great and we just want butterflies and unicorns or whatever.’ And I just wanted to raise what this means as Americans, having corporations with connections to our adversaries buying up American institutions,” Roy said of Wednesday’s meeting.

“As Americans, we should be concerned about a 100-year-old institution — 50 years old technically but goes back 100 years of history — targeted by a foreign national very specifically to promote themselves,” Roy said. “I think the PGA Tour has been great for the sport. Great for America. Great for our communities.” 

Trump’s ties

While LIV Golf is set up as a for-profit, the PGA Tour is a nonprofit that has raised more than $3 billion for charity. Texas events include the Houston Open in the fall, a World Golf Championship event hosted each spring in Austin, as well as a Dallas event.

“Forgive me for not caring about whether Patrick Reed is going to get all upset,” Roy said, referencing the controversial Masters champion who joined LIV Golf this year. “A handful of professional golfers got their panties in a bunch about how much money they’re going to make.”

In Roy’s district just outside San Antonio, the PGA Tour hosts the Valero Texas Open each spring, which raised more than $20 million this year for children in need. 

Trump has maintained a cozy relationship with the Saudis throughout his business career and presidency, making LIV Golf a natural ally.

His Bedminster golf course in New Jersey had been scheduled to host one of the four major golf tournaments, but shortly after the events of Jan. 6, 2021, it was taken away. Instead, Trump’s New Jersey club hosted a LIV Golf event this summer, which he and some of his closest political allies attended, and this fall Trump’s Miami Doral course will host the culminating tournament of LIV’s 2022 season.

At the New Jersey event, Trump spoke out against the PGA Tour and sided with LIV, saying the salaries of professional golfers would go up and that, “I’ve known these people for a long time in Saudi Arabia and they have been friends of mine for a long time.”

During Trump’s presidency, the U.S. intelligence community determined that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamad Bin Salman ordered the execution of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in retaliation for his critical writings about the kingdom.

Critics of LIV Golf have also pointed to Saudi Arabia’s ties to the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks — 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi Arabia and the full extent of Saudi Arabia’s alleged complicity in the attacks remains murky. Asked about this, Trump this summer responded: “Well, nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately.”

edward.mckinley@chron.com