“Severe and irreparable consequence” – LIV Golf trio file lawsuit to play FedEx Cup Playoffs
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LIV Golf Trio File Lawsuit To Play FedEx Cup Playoffs
Three LIV Golf players have filed TROs against the PGA Tour to play in next week’s FedEx playoffs. Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, and Hudson Swafford have filed temporary restraining orders against the PGA Tour as part of an antitrust lawsuit. All three had qualified for the playoffs before heading to the LIV Golf Series, but have been eliminated.
11 players, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, are asking the courts to rule on whether the PGA Tour’s ban on Saudi-backed players is legal. The FedEx Playoffs begin next week at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, with the FedEx St Jude Invitational. The top 70 players then compete in the BMW Championship at Wilmington (Delaware) Country Club, with the top 30 qualifying for the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club.
Anti-trust lawsuit was filed
The PGA Tour issued the FedEx Playoffs and eligibility points list last Monday, removing all suspended and ineligible players – all LIV Golfers. The Tour said the new list wasn’t replacing the official FedEx standings, which would still be used to pay bonuses to all players at the end of the season, but it would be used to determine the Playoffs field, with the top 125 on the new list also retaining full Tour membership for next season and the next 75 earning a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour.
On the official FedEx standings, Gooch is 20th, Jones is 62nd, and Swafford is 63rd, therefore each has already qualified. Commissioner Monahan released a letter to all members in response to the lawsuit. In it, he accuses the players of leaving the Tour to “use lawyers to force their way into the competition.”
Monahan mentioned Gooch, Jones, and Swafford. In the letter, he said, “Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, and Hudson Swafford are seeking a temporary restraining order to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, despite knowing they would be ineligible for tournament play as early as June. Of course, the year’s worth of communication is in advance of their decision to join the Saudi Golf League.”
In their request for a temporary restraining order, the LIV players argue that missing the FedEx playoffs not only hurts players immediately but also “cripples their chances of qualifying for the Majors and the Tour’s premier invitationals in future seasons.” They call missing the playoffs “substantial and irreparable.”
With the opening competition next Thursday, these legal processes could travel the same road as certain LIV players before the Scottish Open last month. A few of players, including Ian Poulter, had their bans temporarily lifted pending appeals. Gooch, Jones, and Swafford might return to the FedEx Playoffs before the legal dispute is resolved.
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