Mickelson and Poulter among golfers to file antitrust lawsuit against PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter are among 11 LIV Golf players who have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour to challenge their suspensions in the latest battle in golf’s civil war.

The group includes three players – Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones – who are seeking a temporary restraining order to allow them to compete in the FedEx Cup play-offs, which get under way next week.

The complaint also claims Mickelson was suspended for two months on March 22 for “attempting to recruit players” to LIV Golf and has since had that ban extended until March 31, 2024 as a result of playing the LIV events in London and Portland.

Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak and Peter Uihlein are the other players putting their names to the suit, arguing that the PGA Tour is trying to hurt their careers.

“The Tour’s conduct serves no purpose other than to cause harm to players and foreclose the entry of the first meaningful competitive threat the Tour has faced in decades,” the lawsuit, which was filed in ​​the US District Court for the Northern District of California, states.

“The purpose of this action is to strike down the PGA Tour’s anticompetitive rules and practices that prevent these independent-contractor golfers from playing when and where they choose.”

In response, the PGA Tour released a memo written to players by commissioner Jay Monahan in which he described the 11 players as former colleagues who have “walked away from the Tour” and were now “Saudi Golf League employees”.

“We have been preparing to protect our membership and contest this latest attempt to disrupt our Tour, and you should be confident in the legal merits of our position,” Monahan wrote.

“With the Saudi Golf