'Something that stinks': PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger under spotlight in US Senate

US and Saudi officials discussed proposals to completely transform professional golf as they negotiated the biggest merger in the sport's history, a trove of documents released on Tuesday showed.

Among the items on the table in the talks between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf were the firing of two-time British Open champion Greg Norman as LIV boss and a new "World Golf Series" that would climax in the kingdom.

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The communications, released by the US Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations at the start of a hearing into the controversial tie-up, gave the most detailed picture yet of how the deal might look.

Saudi's Public Investment Fund (PIF) - which finances LIV Golf - did not ultimately agree to the PGA Tour's request to fire Norman, but the push for his ouster underscored the radical nature of the negotiations.

The proposed merger has prompted antitrust concerns, while critics of the Saudi-backed golf series have cited human rights abuses by the regime, including the murder of a US-based journalist critical of the royals.

Negotiations are still under way and it could be months before the contours of a final agreement take shape.

But Senator Richard Blumenthal, the panel's chairman, shared a summary of the discussions alongside 265 pages of emails, WhatsApp messages and memos submitted by the PGA Tour and LIV Golf ahead of the hearing.

They show how the insurgent LIV Golf promised to stop poaching stars from the PGA Tour in exchange for a say in the running of the sport and a share in media rights.

Also on the table was a plan to give top-ranking PGA stars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy ownership stakes in LIV Golf teams, with a