Phil Mickelson, 10 Others File Lawsuit Against PGA Tour For Suspending Them Over LIV Golf Participation
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Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and nine other golfers who joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series filed a lawsuit against the PGA Tour to challenge their suspensions from the league.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the 11 golfers filed an antitrust suit against the PGA. The players are raising the charge that the PGA Tour is a monopoly, and three of the golfers — Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones — are seeking a temporary restraining order that would allow them to play in the PGA’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, which they qualified for before joining LIV.
The PGA announced in early June that it would suspend players joining LIV after Mickelson and others were lured to the series with lucrative offers. LIV is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is managed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and those who’ve gotten involved in the series have been accused of turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s conduct and poor human rights record.
“We have followed the tournament regulations from start to finish in responding to those players who have decided to turn their backs on the PGA Tour by willfully violating a regulation,” PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan said when he announced the suspensions. “Simultaneous to you receiving this memo, the players are being notified that they are suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA Tour tournament play, including the Presidents Cup. This applies to all tours sanctioned by the PGA Tour.”
Golfweek obtained a copy of the lawsuit with a response to the PGA. It argues that the organization is trying to shut down a competitive threat while hurting the careers of those who’ve joined LIV:
As the Tour’s monopoly power has grown, it has employed its dominance to craft an arsenal of anticompetitive restraints to protect its long-standing monopoly. Now, threatened by the entry of LIV Golf, Inc. (“LIV Golf”), and diametrically opposed to its founding mission, the Tour has ventured to harm the careers and livelihoods of any golfers, including Plaintiffs Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak, and Peter Uihlein (“Plaintiffs”), who have the temerity to defy the Tour and play in tournaments sponsored by the new entrant. The Tour has done so in an intentional and relentless effort to crush nascent competition before it threatens the Tour’s monopoly.
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