WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The PGA Tour was in the hot seat as Senators questioned the group’s planned merger with the Saudi-owned LIV Golf tour.

“There is something that stinks about this path that you’re on right now,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.

Blumenthal and other lawmakers are concerned the heavy Saudi investment isn’t in the best interest of the U.S. tour and its players.

“What would you say to the players who feel blindsided and betrayed?” Blumenthal asked.

“Describe how difficult it’s going to be to conclude this deal,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said.

Johnson says the major investment can’t erase Saudi Arabia’s past.

“No amount of money can wash away the stain of the brutal Kasshogi assassination and other human rights abuses,” Johnson said.

But PGA officials defended the decision, saying the PGA will benefit from the deal and that it prevented LIV Golf from taking over entirely.

“LIV Golf would’ve continued to recruit our players and put our tour in jeopardy and they could’ve become the leader of professional golf and operated for the benefit of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” PGA Tour Chief Operating Officer, Ron Price, said.

Price says the Saudi Arabia public investment fund is only a minority investor.

In the following exchange, Blumenthal asked, “What is the amount of the Saudi investment that is going to be made?”

“That has not been determined yet,” Price replied.

“Has there been any discussion of what that amount will be,” Blumenthal asked.

“North of one billion,” Price said.

Congress may not have the ability to block the deal but Blumenthal encouraged the PGA officials to reject it on their own.