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The PGA Tour will have a permanent controlling
interest in the subsidiary's board of directors, regardless of
the Saudi investment, the framework says.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and rival Saudi-backed LIV circuit,
which had been involved in a bitter fight that split the sport,
earlier in June announced an agreement to merge and form one
unified commercial entity.
The framework agreement also ends litigation between the two
sides.
The LIV Golf series is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabia Public
Investment Fund and critics have accused it of being a vehicle
for the country to improve its reputation as it faces criticism
of its human rights record.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan
will be the chairman of the new entity, called NewCo in the
framework, while PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will be the
CEO.
The framework is likely to be a focus of a U.S. Senate panel on
July 11 where Monahan, Al-Rumayyan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman
have been invited to testify.
The proposed deal has faced intense criticism in Washington.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has asked the PGA and LIV for
communications and records on their planned merger, citing
concerns about the Saudi government's role in the deal and risks
posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over the
sport.
Blumenthal, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), demanded to know how the
nonprofit group came to its agreement with LIV Golf, a
professional body.
He also wanted to know how any newly formed entity will be
structured and operated, including how the PGA Tour intends to
preserve its tax-exempt status.
(Reporting by Chris Sanders and David Shepardson; Editing by
Peter Rutherford)
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