Blunders galore: China Tour and Raytheon revisited

Twitter: @GrimComm

mark.grim@McmGeorge.com

A month after suffering huge political and public relations setbacks for agreeing to accept money from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, acting Commissioner Ron Price found himself testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations.

At that hearing on July 11, Mr. Price appeared to waver during questioning about whether or not a golf business entity still exists in China that will continue to operate PGA Tour-sponsored events. Mr. Price was questioned by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) about the cause of the "cease of operations" of the PGAT China Tour Series.

Did it really cease just because of COVID-19 alone? Or did that somehow become a convenient excuse to save embarrassment over still having an agreement to do golf business with China. The golf political climate had drastically changed after the new competitor LIV Golf came on the scene.

Mr. Price stressed that China Series had not "operated" since 2019, and that the PGAT has "no plans to continue that series".

Is the China Series still in business? Answer: "From a business standpoint, we have no intention of continuing."

What did Mr. Price mean by this?

Hypothetically possible, but highly unlikely "Business Standpoint":The PGAT foresees that this China Series will not be profitable, and will not grow the game as originally thought. Operations must cease because, as we have told LIV supporters many times, it's bad business to continue to run a non-profitable business.

Most likely "Business Standpoint": By continuing to conduct business with Communist China-supported businesses, the PGAT will look like an even more hypocritical organization than it already does because of how it had previously enabled the ugly use of an anti-Saudi public relations attack on LIV supporters.

In 2018, the PGAT had inked a 20-year China Tour Series agreement with Chinese companies Yao Capital and IDG Capital to fund $45 million for the China Series golf tour. Yao, an investment company with ties to Communist China, was in part funded by former Houston Rocket and NBA Hall of Famer Yao Ming. This agreement was lauded by the PGAT.

Then came COVID-19 and both the 2020 and 2021 China Series seasons were cancelled successively. The PGAT communicated the cancellations in each of those years.

However, unlike the previous press announcements over any news about the China Series, there hasn't been an announcement about the recent cease of operations. For some reason, the PGAT isn't willing to come right out and say why the China Series will no longer exist. In the recent past the organization made a decision based on a fear of a possible public relations hit it might take.

Some background information on China is warranted here: The US State Department has confirmed cultural genocide of the Uyghur people, a Muslim minority group in the Xinjiang, China region.The documented atrocities include forced sterilizations, birth control and abortions on Uyghur women; forced marriages, separating children from families; as well as other serious human rights violations.

The UN came out with the following last year: Serious violations against Uyghur and "other predominantly Muslim communities" have been committed. "Allegations of patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence."

Even though China Tour operations had ceased, Mr. Price gave no reasons why. There was no mention of a PGAT change of direction of any kind after having done business with companies tied to Communist China.

When pressed, Mr. Price said he wasn't certain of the current status of the China Series as a business venture and would have to report back to Sen. Hawley at a later date about that.

Efforts to contact Sen. Hawley's communications team were made last week and again over the weekend as to whether Mr. Price had provided the current status of the China Series as a business. There has been no response yet.

There was a contribution made to the PGA Tour China Wikipedia page just last week on Monday, July 17 stating "After cancelling its entire 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour effectively ceased operation." That change was made by a user with ID "JimmyMCI234". It isn't clear if this is an attempt to retroactively move the PGAT's real intentions back two years in time.

This user has made over 800 contributions to Wikipedia, the large majority on the subject of international professional golf. It's unknown who this user is or whether there is any direct affiliation with the PGAT. Is this the official communication that it is over?

Even if the China Series was quietly cancelled due to a change of heart by the PGAT, both the PGAT and LPGA had also canceled single events as late as just last July (2022) that were scheduled to be played the following October. That's less than a year ago. Those PGAT and LPGA-sanctioned tournaments were to be based Shanghai. Both were reportedly canceled due to COVID concerns.

Some have speculated that Commissioner Jay Monahan's leave of absence may have intentionally been extended until after the hearings with the congressional committee to avoid the type of questioning Mr. Price endured under oath.

However, there is only circumstantial evidence regarding Mr. Monahan's schedule to return to work. The truth will most likely never be known with the current facts available.

With his carefully crafted responses regarding China, Mr. Price had been well-coached for this impossible task of representing an organization that had operated in such great hypocrisy.

Two glaring examples of such hypocrisy:
First, the PGAT was in business to operate the China Series while simultaneously opposing LIV Golf on moral and political grounds because LIV was operating with Saudi PIF money.

Second, the shot-heard-round-the-world example of public hypocrisy, that the PGAT signed the Framework Agreement to accept Saudi PIF funding themselves in early June.

The PGAT's hypocrisy was also expressed by the group 9/11 Families United, an ally to the PGAT up until June 6. Families United national chair Terry Strada pointed out that the PGAT had "co-opted" the 9/11 community, and also became "paid Saudi shills" agreeing to potentially take billions of PIF money.

And how could the PGAT not speak out against the actions of its vocal conspirators, who had been acting like a contemporary political party, aggressively equating any degree of support for LIV Golf with taking Saudi "blood money?" The PGAT is responsible in that it enabled this despicable behavior by not condemning it. Golf media outlets, both on television and the Twitter/YouTube variety, aggressively took this route as dutiful foot soldiers for the PGAT.

Almost unbelievably, a month prior to the PIF-PGAT agreement, Mr. Monahan had nixed a deal with Raytheon to sponsor the Byron Nelson tournament because Raytheon had a separate deal to sell defense intercept missiles to Saudi Arabia with requisite approval from the US Government.

It looks like that deal is gone. It is possible, however, that fresh leadership could bring the parties back to the table.

Now, let's get this straight;

      The PGAT walked away from a sponsorship deal at the last-minute with Raytheon.

      The PGAT walked because Raytheon had a separate contract to sell Patriot anti-ballistic defense missiles to Saudi Arabia, an ally of the US, for protection against incoming missile attacks (nuclear, chemical, biological).

      The US Government had already approved that $3 billion deal between Saudi Arabia and Raytheon.

      One month after Raytheon was nixed, in an inexplicable about face, a Framework Agreement was signed by the PGAT to also take the Saudi PIF "blood money" themselves.

It's hard to fathom how Jay Monahan can remain commissioner.

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