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police chief is defending his actions as questions continue to mount over his department's response to the deadly school shooting. a new saudi-backed golf league is luring some big-name golfers with some reportedly getting nine-figure payouts. what's behind the saudi strategy, and how the pga is responding. and dangerous heat is gripping part of the country. 60 million of you are under heat alerts. when we're going to start to see some relief from the triple-digit temperatures. "newsroom" starts right now. wish you a good morning. we are grateful to have you with us on this sat...

Their own records with the pga tour. and so i think it's going to be interesting because the public investment fund can certainly afford to keep putting money into this tour to see if it grows and becomes sustainable at least in terms of attracting senior players. i think from that point of view if we can get to the second or third events rather than just the first one where the focus has been on human rights, questioning of the players, if by the third or fourth event the questions are more about the golf then from a sports-watching perspective, i think it will have been successful in changin...

Financial-based reasons. the live golf series is bankrolled by the financial arm of the saudi government. phil mickelson himself called the usdthem scary and said they killed jamal khashoggi and have a human rights record. this is an opportunity to reshape way the tour operates. examples, dustin johnson played in 21 games last season making $5 million in prize money. with eight live golf events he's getting more than $100 million to play in the series. mickelson in three decades as a pro has made about $94 million in prize money, but he, too, is reportedly getting a nine-figure payout. unlike ...

So i think that's what they're trying to do, especially because of the eight events on this liv tour. only one will take place in saudi arabia itself. the other seven will take place in the u.s., in europe, and in asia. so it's really about granding saudi arabia to the world in a very different way. >> i want to play a clip for you of something that phil mickelson, known as leftie, said about his participation. >> i don't condone human rights violations at all. i don't think -- nobody here does throughout the world. and i'm certainly aware of what has happened with jamal khashoggi, and i think...

41 minutes past the hour. you know some of the biggest names in golf have been suspended from the pga tour for competing in this upstart golf series that teed off this weekend. >> the controversial saudi-backed live golf series wraps up its inaugural event today, but what exactly is it, and why is it drawing so much criticism? cnn's coy wire joins us now to explain. coy? >> reporter: good morning. there is the new saudi-backed breakaway series putting some of the top golfers in the cross hairs of a debate about money over morals. it's also reshaping the pga tour as we know it. stars like phil ...