Josh Hawley Scolds PGA Executives for Hypocrisy over LIV Golf Merger

“What was China doing when they hosted the Olympics but a few years ago, but sportswashing? Trying to wash their enslavement of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Muslims. Trying to sportswash their purchase of thousands of United States farmland acres. To sportswash their research into bioterrorism weapons,” Marshall asked. “Why aren’t we investigating those issues?” said Marshall.

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) participates in a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on July 13, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Why aren’t we investigating that 90% of the counterfeits that come into this country are made in China? 90% of the fentanyl that comes in this country is made in China. They steal $500 billion of intellectual property from us every year. Those are the things that we should be investigating,” he added.

The merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour shocked the world last month, especially considering how much the two were at odds, with the PGA once referring to the LIV as “blood money.” In response to the controversy, Monahan went as far as to blame Congress for the merger, charging that the U.S. has too deep of financial ties with the Saudi government.

“During this intense battle, we met with several members of Congress and policy experts to discuss the PIF’s attempt to take over the game of golf in the United States, and suggested ways that Congress could support us in these efforts,” Monahan wrote in a letter to Congress. “While we are grateful for the written declarations of support we received from certain members, we were largely left on our own to fend off the attacks, ostensibly due to the United States’ complex geopolitical alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”