WASHINGTON — Officials who oversee Saudi Arabia's tens of billions of dollars in U.S. investments haven't been shy about flaunting their ties with top American business and political figures, down to wearing MAGA caps as they swing golf clubs alongside former President Donald Trump. But they've been silent about many of the details of these relationships.
Former President Donald Trump, left, talks with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, on the 16th hole during the first round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament on July 29 in Bedminster, N.J.
That's changing as a result of a federal lawsuit in California pitting the Saudi-owned golf tour upstart LIV against the PGA Tour. A judge, citing what she described as the kingdom's hands-on management of LIV, found that when it came to the new golf league, Saudi officials and the Saudi government aren't shielded from U.S. courts the way sovereign nations usually are.
While Saudi Arabia is fighting the decision, insisting U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over its high officials, the ruling means lawyers for the PGA Tour would be able to question top officials about business secrets that the Saudis have held close, such as details of deal-making involving 2024 presidential candidate Trump and others.
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U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman found that the Saudis had smacked up against a commercial exception to U.S. laws on sovereign immunity.
Yasir al Rumayyan, appointed under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to manage the oil-rich Saudi government's $600 billion-plus stockpile of wealth, is "up to his eyeballs" in managing the golf tour, Labson Freeman declared.
The finding follows PGA Tour claims that al Rumayyan himself recruited LIV players, approved LIV contracts and was otherwise the golf league's decision-maker and manager. Lawyers for Saudi Arabia counter that Rumayyan's actions were those of an eager investor, not of someone actually running a business.
The case matters beyond the world of golf. Saudi Arabia has been assertive in U.S. business investments and political relationships and could now face court demands for greater transparency and accountability.
The insistence by Saudi officials that U.S. courts have little or no say over their actions is especially sensitive. Last year, the kingdom, with legal backing from the Biden administration, successfully argued that American courts had no authority to try the prince in a lawsuit over the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. intelligence officials had concluded that aides and other Saudi officials sent by the prince killed Khashoggi. The slaying has opened a lasting rift between the Biden administration and Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler.
Longstanding international law generally protects the leaders and government of one country from being hauled into another country's courts. Congress carved out commercial activity as an exception to that sovereign immunity in 1976.
The PGA Tour argued in a recent filing that Saudi Arabia and its sovereign wealth fund under the prince have a record of flip-flopping on insisting upon sovereign immunity, depending on whether doing so works to their advantage in various business deals and lawsuits.
Saudi Arabia's critics and independent legal experts and analysts say the kingdom may be in a tough spot legally.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, left, former President Donald Trump, second from left, Greg Norman, LIV Golf CEO, third from left, and Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi, watch the start of the second round of the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament on July 30 in Bedminster, N.J.
"It seemed to me very clear that it wasn't immune" from U.S. courts when it came to operating the LIV golf tour and tournaments, said Donald Baker, a lawyer and a former head in the Justice Department's antitrust division who is not involved in the case.
Baker projected the case could lead to California's Northern District federal court seeking depositions from Saudi royals. Any decisions on whether other Saudi government business deals in the United States have similarly lost their immunity from U.S. courts would have to be made on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Sarah Leah Whitson, who runs the Democracy for the Arab World Now rights group founded by Khashoggi, said that "if they want to have sovereign immunity from their business transactions, it means they can sue people, they can demand that the judicial system enforces contracts and the laws governing contracts, but nobody can impose that against them. Nobody can hold them accountable."
The Saudi-funded professional golf tour, now in its second season and with a slogan of "Golf, but louder," is known for its blaring music, record multimillion-dollar purses, ties with Trump and unfriendly rivalry with the PGA Tour. Trump courses this year will host three LIV tournaments, in deals whose financial terms have not been publicly disclosed.
Saudi Arabia's immunity problem comes in an antitrust lawsuit that was initially brought by LIV players against the long-established PGA Tour. The case already has revealed that the Saudi government's sovereign wealth fund owns 93% of LIV.
A lawyer for Saudi Arabia's side of the case did not respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment. A LIV spokeswoman referred questions to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which also did not respond to requests for comment.
Under the now eight-year rule of Saudi Arabia's king, Salman, his son Prince Mohammed has made the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund a primary tool of Saudi investment at home and abroad. The prince is the fund's chairman. Saudi officials say the aim is to diversify the kingdom's oil-funded economy.
Under Prince Mohammed and fund governor al Rumayyan, the fund has more than $30 billion invested in Uber, Meta, luxury electric car brand and Tesla rival Lucid, Paypal, Costco and other publicly traded U.S. businesses.
The fund also has consolidated Saudis' relationship with the Trump family, using Trump golf courses and directing $2 billion to the investment firm of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The Saudi sovereign wealth fund also is spending heavily on sports. In addition to creating the LIV golf tour, the Saudis have bought the Newcastle United soccer team in Britain's Premier League and hosted Formula One races, horse races with record prize money, and other tournaments and matches, from snooker to boxing and chess.
Column: New year on the PGA Tour more mysterious than ever
LIV GOLF
The question of “who’s next?” has given way to “what’s next?” for the Saudi-funded rival league. LIV Golf has gone largely quiet in the last month except disclosing that its chief operating officer had resigned. A 2023 schedule was expected in November, but at the close of the year, only seven sites had been announced for the 14-tournament schedule.
Far more pressing is whether LIV Golf can find a television partner for the United States and the United Kingdom, even if it has to pay for it.
As for who’s next, expect the rumors to crank up as soon as the PGA Tour gets started this week at Kapalua, though there has been no substance in any speculation involving the top players.
Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann waited until the FedEx Cup playoffs were over to join LIV Golf last summer. LIV’s first tournament is Feb. 24-26, a week after the West Coast Swing ends at Riviera with a $20 million purse in the Genesis Invitational.
However many millions of dollars LIV paid to sign top players last year, it's hard to imagine the rates coming down to get a big name. LIV can't afford to lose momentum.
TIGER WOODS
It’s not so much where Tiger Woods plays as how much he plays.
Plantar fasciitis that kept him from playing in the Bahamas and hobbled him at the PNC Championship raised more doubts about his future. His emotional crossing over the Swilcan Bridge at St. Andrews in July was the last time Woods walked in a tournament.
The earliest Woods might play is at Riviera in February for the Genesis Invitational. The Masters is certainly a target (Woods has never missed the cut as a pro). The PGA Championship is at Oak Hill in May, which could be chilly. Woods tied for 39th in 2003 and tied for 40th in 2013 his previous two PGAs at Oak Hill.
Woods remains active in helping to reshape the PGA Tour. But fans want to see him play.
THE MAJORS
The Masters waited until 11 days before the end of the year to say its criteria will stay the same for April, even as Chairman Fred Ridley expressed disappointment in the disruption LIV Golf has caused.
Most telling was a reminder that any modifications or changes to the invitation criteria would be announced in April. One possibility is leaning more on the money list than the world ranking, as it last did in 1998.
The U.S. Open will decide any changes at its annual meeting in February. The PGA Championship has used the PGA Tour money list and invitations, which typically are for the top 100 in the world, but not stated that way in the entry form.
When or if LIV gets world ranking points, most of the players will have slid out of the top 50. Moving up in the ranking with 48-man fields won't be easy.
AZALEA
That's the name of the 13th hole at Augusta National, a par 5 that has been reached in two with a driver and a sand wedge by some of the longest hitters. And everyone seems to hit it long these days.
The Masters finally decided to lengthen one of the most dynamic holes on the course, extending the tee to make the hole play 35 yards longer.
Ridley cited Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones as saying a decision to go for the green in two at the 13th should be a momentous one. “And I would have to say that our observations of these great players hitting middle and even short irons into that hole is not a momentous decision,” Ridley said in April.
Tony Finau was there in November when it was soft and damp and hit 3-iron and 4-iron in the rounds he played. He expects players hitting about 5-iron in April. To be determined is whether the decision is “momentous.”
THE SLAM
The question has been the same for the last five years: Who gets to the career Grand Slam first? Rory McIlroy is the obvious choice at the Masters, coming off a stellar season that saw him return to No. 1 in the world.
Jordan Spieth gets his seventh crack at the final leg in the PGA Championship.
The difference is Augusta National and the scar tissue it leaves from being the only major played on the same course. This will be McIlroy's 15th appearance at the Masters. Sergio Garcia (19) and Mark O'Meara (15) are the only two players to have played the Masters that often before finally winning. Neither was going for the final leg of the Grand Slam.
The other, of course, is Phil Mickelson. He will be 53 when he tries to win the U.S. Open.
RYDER CUP
The first question is who plays?
The Americans had three players on the winning team from Whistling Straits who have joined LIV Golf and are ineligible to earn points. Given the depth, they are easily replaced.
Europe lost five players from the '21 team to LIV Golf, though all are in their 40s and toward the back ends of their careers except for Bernd Wiesberger at age 37. The core of the team — McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland — is in tact.
The matches will be held in Italy for the first time. What's not new about the Ryder Cup is the perception of the Americans being favored to win. It's been that way for much of the previous 30 years since they last won on European soil.
