Greg Norman lobbies for LIV Golf during Congressional visit, gets mixed reviews

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Greg Norman met with federal lawmakers on Capitol Hill to lobby on behalf of the new golf circuit being financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, but his message was met with mixed reviews.

The congressman from Tennessee walked out of Norman's lunch meeting with the Republican Study Committee because of his lobbying efforts. He questioned Saudi Arabia's ties to the 9/11 attacks and its involvement in the murder of a US citizen.

"It's propaganda," he said. I don't want to know about that. Congress doesn't have the right to settle a fight between billionaires over a game of golf. The courts are where they need to take it. The Congress got involved in Major League Baseball. Some Saudis are funding a league here. I didn't think our priorities were right.

According to a report from The Hill, Norman told reporters after the lunch meeting that he wanted lawmakers to have both sides of the story for them.

"Do not come in here and act like you're doing something great, while you're pimping a billion dollars of Saudi Arabian money," Roy said after the lunch meeting.

Roy said he respected Greg's right to do whatever he wanted to do. It isn't easy as he tries to make it seem. It's like there are butterflies and hummingbirds in the air, he says. They can't have their awesome little competition because of the PGA Tour's monopoly. It's more complicated than that.

Roy asked Norman why LIV Golf and its employees aren't registered as foreign agents. Norman said that they are here to grow the game of golf.

Norman tried to avoid talking about the golf club's ties to Saudi Arabia.

Roy said that they didn't want to discuss Saudi Arabia. It's the truth. I felt that they didn't want to talk about it, even though it was supposed to be explained and talked about. This is a billion dollars of publicity for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia according to the former President. They are just dismissing it.

Roy said that about 75 members of Congress were at the meeting. Other lawmakers questioned Norman about the impact it would have on the PGA Tour and its charity work, while others wanted to know if the PGA Tour was blocking competition.

Roy said that this is not about pure competition. Don't try to sell me something that is not what you are selling. You're selling something that's in bed with the Saudis, so they can accomplish their goal and Greg can accomplish his. He's always wanted to have a rival operation to take on the tour, but he's been unable to do it until he got a billion dollar sugar daddy.

The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the legality of the PGA Tour. The tour denied the accusations.

LIV Golf and a few of its players have filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour for suspending members for playing in LIV Golf events, and for pressuring vendors, broadcast networks, agents and others to not work with the new league.

According to the Washington Examiner, Norman met with senior Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, including Jim Jordan of Ohio and Matt Gaetz of Florida, and told them he was willing to testify before Congress about antitrust issues.

Norman met with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The lawmaker met with the leadership of the tour.

Gaetz said he was encouraged that Mr. Norman would give testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. He knows a lot about golf's role in culture and the world. The country would benefit from hearing more about him.

The report was contributed to by two senior writers from the sports network.