LIV Golf Tour players have filed a lawsuit against the PGA Tour
A bunch of LIV Golf players are now suing the PGA Tour, seeking a restraining order to compete in next week’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Messy. This is all very messy. It’s all somewhat tiresome as well. And bad for the reputation of a game that many of us play.
I do wonder if professional golf is all becoming less interesting to watch. It’s had me more interested on my own golf; going out to play a few local hidden gem golf courses, plan more golf trips.
Anyway here is the latest news – a group from LIV Golf is suing the PGA Tour. A bunch of LIV tour players are desperately trying to be a part of the upcoming, season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs which begin next week on the PGA Tour.
The lawsuit was filed by golfers including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Ian Poulter and Australia’s Matt Jones.
An AAP bylined report summarizes the situation:
Eleven LIV Golf players, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, filed an antitrust lawsuit on Wednesday against the US PGA Tour, some seeking a restraining order to compete in next week’s playoffs.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California, challenges the indefinite suspensions imposed by PGA commissioner Jay Monahan upon those who played in any of the Saudi-backed upstart tour’s first three events.
LIV players-We want to play less golf
Also LIV players-We are suing so we can play more golf
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) August 3, 2022
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach adds some details on how difficult this may be to get over the line.
One of the challenges for the LIV Golf players, according to Craig Seebald, a partner and antitrust expert at Vinson & Elkins law firm, is proving injury. Many of the players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf received guaranteed signing bonuses of between $100 million and $200 million.
“Normally, when you’re representing plaintiffs, you say, ‘Oh my God, our plaintiffs are so hurt. They’re so injured. They’re going out of business,” Seebald said. “But the allegation in the complaint is that to get these players across the transom to be part of LIV, they had to overpay them. They were surprised they had to pay all these upfront payments to get people over. I guess they’re saying that makes it hard in the long term for them to be viable, despite the fact they have the Saudis giving them millions of dollars.”
LIV players-We want to play less golf
Also LIV players-We are suing so we can play more golf
— Paige Spiranac (@PaigeSpiranac) August 3, 2022
And Bryson DeCheambeau has it all ass-backwards.
Bryson went on Tucker Carlson tonight, and it appears that he believes he was formerly the PGA Tour’s … customer? pic.twitter.com/MQbHRA1u42
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 3, 2022