US politician insists Saudi official testifies over golf deal

Sovereign wealth fund governor has declined earlier requests to appear before Senate subcommittee

The PGA Tour and European tour agreed to a merger with Saudi Arabia's golf interests. AP

The head of a US congressional committee investigating LIV Golf's proposed merger with the PGA Tour on Wednesday repeated a call for the Governor of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to testify before the panel.

Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the US Senate subcommittee on investigations, said in a letter to Yasir Al Rumayyan, the head of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, that LIV should expect to be under American oversight as an investor in the US.

Mr Al Rumayyan has so far declined requests to testify before the Senate panel, with his lawyers telling Mr Blumenthal he was an "inappropriate witness" who should be exempt from testifying, because of his status as a Saudi government minister.

Mr Blumenthal said in his letter released on Wednesday that Mr Al Rumayyan must agree to appear at a September 13 hearing or propose other possible dates to appear by Friday.

"If you continue to refuse to comply voluntarily the subcommittee will be forced to consider other legal methods to compel PIF's compliance," he said.

LIV Golf and the PGA Tour rocked the sporting world in June after announcing plans for a de facto merger to end the stand-off between the two circuits.

But few details of how the LIV-PGA entity would work have been revealed, other than that Mr Al Rumayyan will have a seat among decision makers and PIF would invest in a company with the PGA Tour.

"PIF's recent dealings with the PGA Tour demonstrate that it intends to be much more than a passive investor," Mr Blumenthal said.

He said a US District Court ruled in California this year that PIF was not protected by "sovereign immunity" rules in its legal battle with the PGA Tour.

"PIF cannot have it both ways," Mr Blumenthal wrote. "If it wants to engage with the United States commercially, it must be subject to United States law and oversight.

"That oversight includes this subcommittee's inquiry."

Mr Blumenthal also said the subcommittee would want Mr Al Rumayyan himself to appear at some stage even if another PIF representative were sent in the meantime.