“They’ve turned their back” – Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and nine other LIV golfers sue PGA Tour on antitrust grounds
Follow Us
Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau and nine others file suit against PGA tour
In response to the PGA Tour suspending them and barring other players who joined the LIV Golf International Series from competing in any PGA Tour events, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and nine other golfers filed an antitrust action against the PGA Tour on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the lawsuit, which was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Bryson DeChambeau and Talor Gooch are two more golfers who are parties to the PGA Tour case. & Matt Jones, Hudson Swafford. The PGA Tour announced in June 2022 that participants in the LIV Golf Series, which is sponsored by Saudi Arabia, would be barred from competing in PGA Tour competitions.
Aiming to compete with the PGA Tour, the LIV Golf circuit is run by former professional golfer Greg Norman. The league will consist of an eight-tournament circuit with seven regular-season tournaments and one team event in October. Events will be held in cities such as Boston, Chicago, Bangkok, Saudi Arabia, and Miami.
“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 alleges. “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,” that lawsuit continues.
“We welcome good, healthy competition,” said Jay Monahan in June. “The LIV Saudi Golf League is not that. It’s an irrational threat, one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game.”
LIV Golf offered substantial sums of money for players to join the league
Due to LIV Golf‘s backing from the Saudi Arabian sovereign-wealth fund, golfers have come under fire for joining. The U.S. Department of State reports that Saudi Arabia has been charged in recent years with a number of human rights violations, including, wrongful killings, executions for nonviolent crimes, forced disappearances, torture, cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners, and detainees by government agents, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention, and taking political prisoners or detainees, among other offenses.
The league’s CEO, Norman, admitted that Tiger Woods was given a “neighborhood” of $800 million to join LIV Golf last year, which put the league in the limelight this week. Woods declined that offer and continues to compete on the PGA Tour. “I disagree with it,” Woods said in July 2022 about golfers leaving the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf. “I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”
Other players were also given substantial sums of money to join the league in addition to Woods. Dustin Johnson reportedly received a $150 million offer to play, while Phil Mickelson reportedly received a $200 million offer just to compete. Those sums would be in addition to any tournament prizes, just for participation. Johnson and Mickelson both choose to join LIV Golf after accepting those offers.
The most recent LIV golf tournament was played at the former president’s course in New Jersey, Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. Former President Trump has come under fire for holding the recent LIV tournament at his golf course. A group of 9/11 relatives even wrote him a letter pleading with him to “reconsider.”
Also Read| “Match made in sports heaven”- Dustin Johnson on kissing Paulina Gretzky after LIV Golf team win
Do follow us on: Google News | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Stay Updated!
FS Desk
(8023 Articles Published)