LIV players launch lawsuit against PGA Tour

TSN Senior Reporter

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The battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is headed for the courtroom.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a group of 11 LIV players including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, launched an antitrust lawsuit against the tour challenging the suspensions given to the players for playing in LIV tournaments. 

Three other players – Hudson Swafford, Talor Gooch and Matt Jones – are also seeking a restraining order that would allow them to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs which begin next week. All three qualified for the playoffs while on the PGA Tour earlier this year. Gooch is 20th in the FedEx Cup standings, while Jones is 62nd and Swafford 63rd. They believe they should be allowed to play while their appeals are being heard.

The other players involved in the lawsuit are Abraham Ancer, Jason Kokrak, Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez, Ian Poulter and Peter Uihlein.

The timing of the suit comes as the PGA Tour gets set for its highest-profile stretch on the calendar. The FedEx Cup playoffs are the circuit’s three-tournament finale to the season.

The lawsuit states that the PGA Tour has used “anticompetitive restraints to protect its long-standing monopoly.” The golfers have asked the court to declare the suspensions illegal and to have the PGA Tour pay their legal fees and damages.

In the lawsuit, it was also revealed that Mickelson’s long break from the tour that began on March 23 was due to a suspension handed out by the PGA Tour. It said the reason was that Mickelson was recruiting players for LIV Golf. It’s believed that Mickelson was the first player signed to a deal with LIV. Neither Mickelson nor the tour had previously released any information of the suspension.

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