This will always end in a lawsuit between Phil Mickelson – among others – and the PGA Tour, and that day has come. A group of 11 LIV Golf League stars have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in the hopes it will allow them to play the Tournament again – and likely soon. Some golfers will still qualify for next week’s FedEx Cup Playoffs Round, the tournament they are claiming to play in, with a favorable ruling.
After some of its golfers left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in June, The PGA Tour has suspended them and knocked them out of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which many would qualify for despite not playing PGA Tour events for two months. However, Mickelson’s suspension goes deeper than that, according to the Wall Street Journal. Following his provocative comments about Saudi Arabia and the LIV Golf Federation in February, the Tour appears to have suspended him in March:
The lawsuit also provides new details about Mickelson’s status on the Tour, which has been the subject of significant conspiracies following his retirement following controversial comments regarding Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Saudi Arabia was announced earlier this year.
The lawsuit states that Mickelson was suspended by the PGA Tour in March for allegedly recruiting players to play for LIV, among other reasons, and his appeal was denied. When he applied for reinstatement in June, the lawsuit says, Tour denied it based on his participation in the first LIV event that month outside of London. It said he was barred from applying for reinstatement until March 2023, this was extended until March 2024 after he played the second LIV event.
The PGA Tour typically grants players a maximum of three waivers on other tours, and has consistently allowed players to take other tours with a waiver. However, it does not apply to the first LIV event and Golf Channel has indicated language in its rules could be why. The player stated that he could be denied an exemption if “such a release would cause .” [the Tour] breach of contractual commitments with tournament sponsors or would cause substantial and unreasonable harm [the Tour] and such sponsors. “
LIV Golf is clearly trying to obliterate the PGA Tour and they are paying players exorbitant sums to achieve this. Mickelson, DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson are said to have nine figures. Tiger Woods apparently offered close to 1 billion dollars to join, which he declined. Real LIV golfers are using this against the PGA Tour in their lawsuit.
“LIV Golf is poised to issue an antitrust challenge against the PGA Tour, even before it’s launched, arguing that the PGA Tour has monopoly power in the golf market and is using that power to try to eliminate an emerging competitor, by attempting to limit or increase the price of LIV’s player access,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
One problem here is that golfers are trying to pick which PGA Tour events they want to play without really helping to build the PGA Tour on a weekly basis. LIV golfers will say this is an independent contractor’s right, and in fact they said it in the lawsuitIt states, “The intent of this action is to remove the PGA Tour’s anti-competitive rules and practices that prevent this independent contractor’s golfers from playing when and where they choose.”
However, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sees it differently, and he addresses the issue in A memo for the player has been revealed shortly after news of the lawsuit dropped:
Essentially, these suspended players – who are currently employees of the Saudi Golf Federation – have left the Tournament and now want to return. With the Saudi Arabia Golf Federation on hiatus, they are trying to use lawyers to force them to enter the competition with our members in good standing. It is an attempt to use the Tour platform to promote yourself and recognize your interests and efforts. Permission to re-enter our events will affect the Tour and the competition, to the detriment of our organization, our players, partners and fans. The lawsuit they filed somehow expects us to believe otherwise, which is why we intend to make our case clear and strong.
Whether the players will be allowed to play both tours remains to be seen, but we’ll have a quick answer on whether the players will be allowed to play in next week’s FedEx Cup Playoffs Round. are not. There is also recent precedent here. Ian Poulter and two other golfers were allowed to play at the Scottish Open despite being banned by the DP World Tour. Was granted residency right before the tournament started. Perhaps the same could apply in this situation.
Interestingly, players such as Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson – all of whom have since left the LIV Golf League – have given up their membership altogether and are not part of this lawsuit, nor are they eligible. event for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
LIV Golf’s next event takes place in Boston in early September after the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
