The US PGA Tour filed a motion in federal court asking that three LIV Golf players be barred from competing in this week’s FedEx Cup playoff opener. The three LIV members are the Australian Talor Gooch, the Americans Matt Jones, and Hudson Swafford.
The PGA sent a 32-page response to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday, along with a different seven-page example of what it calls mischaracterizations and mistruths presented by the LIV players.
The PGA Tour also claims that LIV Golf players were aware that leaving the PGA Tour for the Saudi-backed upstart series would have consequences.
“Despite knowing full well that they would breach TOUR Regulations and be suspended for doing so, Plaintiffs have joined competing golf league LIV Golf, which has paid them tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed money supplied by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund,” the tour said in its response.
In its filing, the PGA Tour called the LIV Golf rebels’ motion to have their suspensions lifted ‘legally baseless’ and “fabricating an ‘emergency’ they now maintain requires immediate action.”
Petition for a temporary restraining order
The trio all qualified for the playoffs based on FedEx Cup points. Gooch was 20th in FedEx Cup points, Jones was 65th, and Swafford was 67th. However, they are unable to compete because they have been suspended by the Tour for signing with competitor LIV Golf. The three are requesting that their suspensions be lifted through a petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO).
Jones and Gooch and Swafford will have a hearing on Tuesday afternoon in San Jose, California. A federal judge, Beth Labson Freeman will weigh a request from the three players for a TRO that would allow their participation in this week’s St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn.
Previous lifted banned
The DP World Tour suspended LIV golfers Ian Poulter, Adrian Otaegui, and Justin Harding previously. A non-profit appeals board lifted the suspensions allowing them to compete in the Genesis Scottish Open, which was co-sanctioned between the American circuit and the DP World Tour.
However, the legal landscape differs in America, and a judge here “will not care what happened in Scotland.” said Craig Seebald, a partner and antitrust specialist with the international law firm Vinson & Elkins.
“TRO plaintiffs now run into court seeking a mandatory injunction to force their way into the Tour’s season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs, an action that would harm all Tour members that follow the rules.” the PGA filing said.
LIV anti-trust lawsuit
The anti-trust lawsuit names eleven suspended players, including six-time major champion Phil Mickelson and 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau. The lawsuit alleges that the PGA Tour’s indefinite suspensions were intended to harm their careers.
Out of eleven players but only Gooch, Jones, and Swafford are reportedly attempting to re-enter the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The 105-page antitrust lawsuit also claims “the Tour flexed its incumbent monopolistic power, including by enforcing its unlawful player restrictions that deny players the ability to sell their services to others, imposing lengthy suspensions on players for merely exercising their right as independent contractors”
The Tour responded in its filing, “now run into Court seeking a mandatory injunction to force their way into the TOUR’s season-ending FedExCup Playoffs, an action that would harm all TOUR members that follow the rules. The antitrust laws do not allow Plaintiffs to have their cake and eat it too.”
On Wednesday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan criticized the lawsuit, saying it was a desperate effort to “freeride” on the Tour’s current members’ “benefits and efforts.”