Senators ask attorney general to review PGA Tour deal with Saudis - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Two U.S. senators are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter to scrutinize the PGA Tour's planned alliance with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and oppose the deal if it reduces competition in violation of federal antitrust laws.

In a letter sent to Garland and Kanter on Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote that although details of the proposed alliance are unclear, «the red flags regarding antitrust concerns are clear.»

The senators wrote that the proposed alliance «enable[s] the Saudi government's efforts to 'sportswash' its egregious human rights record» and «raises an array of potential legal and regulatory issues, including relating to the PGA Tour's non-profit tax status and antitrust law.»

According to Warren and Wyden, they have previously voiced their concerns about the Saudi monarchy's history of «atrocious» human rights violations, including allegations that it «routinely harasses and harshly prosecutes individuals for peaceful expression or association; executes individuals (including children) for robbery and drug-related crimes after rigged trials, increasingly including through mass executions; and directed the extrajudicial murder of U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi,» a Washington Post journalist.

The senators noted that the PGA Tour, in a federal countersuit filed against the LIV Golf League, which is being financed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, argued to a federal judge that «LIV is not a rational economic actor, competing fairly to start a golf tour. It is prepared to lose billions of dollars to leverage [U.S. golfers] and the sport of