The battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour has reached the first of what will surely be many rooms.
U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman heard arguments from attorneys representing both the PGA Tour and a consortium of eleven players affiliated with LIV on Tuesday afternoon. Three LIV players, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones, were seeking a temporary restraining order to allow them to compete in this week’s tournament, the first event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
However, after a two-hour hearing, Mr Justice Freeman ruled that the players had not shown they would suffer “irreparable harm” if they were not allowed to play. It also indicated that players were fully aware of the potential consequences of joining LIV when they did so earlier this summer and that they had earned a substantial amount of purse income as a result of their decision to play on the LIV tour. As a result, LIV players will not be on the field this week or in the rest of the PGA Tour playoffs.
The players’ temporary restraining order was just one part of a much larger lawsuit that LIV players, led by Phil Mickelson, have filed against the Tour on antitrust grounds. This lawsuit alleges that the PGA Tour has engaged in anti-competitive behavior and coerced other entities in the golf world (the four majors, various vendors, courses) to avoid LIV and its players. The Tour has responded that it is protecting the interests of its members, the players, by keeping the walls up against players on competing tours who seek, in the Tour’s oft-repeated words, “to have their cake and eat it too “.
While Tuesday’s hearing focused primarily on the narrow question of the three players’ eligibility to play in the Tour playoffs, an event they had already qualified for before leaving for LIV, both the lawyers for the LIV players like Tour lawyers previewed the arguments. which will be in play in the coming months.
Judge Freeman appeared to disagree with the breadth of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s power to suspend and control the fate of Tour players. On the other hand, it raised significant questions about the level of antitrust at work here, given how successful LIV has been in attracting and retaining some of the sport’s biggest names. Five of the Tour’s 10 most popular players, by the Tour’s own metrics, have now teamed up with LIV.
The story continues
Some significant revelations also emerged during the hearing, the most significant of which concerns how at least some LIV players are paid. According to the players’ own attorney, at least some LIV players have their tournament winnings deducted from their advance payment, which in effect functions as an advance rather than an actual, discrete payment. So under this deal, a player who hypothetically received $10 million to play in LIV would have to earn $10 million in tournament coins before earning additional money on the LIV tour. This is a significant and substantial difference from the way PGA Tour players are paid.
The FedEx St. Jude Classic, the first of the three-event FedEx Cup playoffs, begins Thursday. The next LIV Golf event is scheduled for early September in Boston.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Hudson Swafford is one of three LIV Golf players looking to compete in this week’s FedEx Cup playoffs. (Joe Maher/LIV Golf/Getty Images)
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Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.