Saudi-funded LIV Golf has joined a handful of its players in their antitrust lawsuit claiming the PGA Tour has used monopoly power to try to squash competition and has unfairly suspended players
Last Updated: 28/08/22 8:04am
LIV Golf has joined a handful of its players in their antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, according to an amended complaint that showed four golfers have now removed their names.
Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter and Bryson DeChambeau and several other golfers sued the PGA Tour in early August over its decision to suspend them for playing on the new Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf circuit.
According to the amended complaint filed on Friday in San Jose, California federal court, LIV Golf is seeking “punitive damages against the PGA Tour for its tortuous interference with LIV Golf’s prospective business relationships.”
The lucrative LIV Golf series is being bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which critics say is a vehicle for the country to improve its image in the face of criticism of its human rights record.
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Three players still on the lawsuit – Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford – had sought a temporary restraining order that would have allowed them to compete in the PGA Tour’s playoffs but their request was denied.
The amended filing showed that both Abraham Ancer and Jason Kokrak had dropped out of the complaint, while Carlos Ortiz and Pat Perez had removed their names in recent weeks.
The remaining players in the complaint are Mickelson, DeChambeau, Poulter, Peter Uihlein, Gooch, Swafford and Jones.
Poulter was one of three DP World Tour members who successfully gained a temporary stay of their suspensions from July’s Scottish Open, pending determination of their substantive appeals.
The players had also been fined ?100,000 for competing in the first LIV Golf event in June after being turned down for the required releases.
Being suspended by the PGA Tour means players such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed cannot represent the United States in September’s Presidents Cup, when Davis Love will captain the side.