PGA Tour accuses LIV Golf of interfering in its contracts


The PGA Tour filed a counterclaim against LIV Golf on Wednesday, the latest twist in a lengthy legal battle between the Tour and the Saudi-backed circuit that has drawn a number of top players.

In its countersuit, the PGA Tour, which is suing LIV for antitrust violations, said the burgeoning series “tortiously interfered with the Tour’s contracts with golfers” who switched to LIV. It added that LIV “wrongly informed” its players that they could break their contracts with the tour “to the benefit of LIV and to the detriment of all tour members.”

“In fact, a key component of LIV’s strategy has been to intentionally get tour members to break their tour agreements and attend LIV events, while also trying to maintain their tour memberships and attend marquee tour events like The Players Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs, LIV is free to ride the Tour and its platform,” the PGA Tour said in its counterclaim.

The PGA Tour, which declined to comment Thursday, requested a jury trial, which was scheduled for January 2024. The tour is also seeking damages for lost profits, “damage to reputation and branding,” and other legal costs.

In a statement Thursday, LIV said the PGA Tour “made these counterclaims in a transparent attempt to divert attention from its anti-competitive conduct, which LIV and the players detail in their 104-page complaint.”

“We remain confident that the courts and judicial system will right this wrong,” the statement said.

The countersuit is the latest twist in an antagonistic battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf that has lured a number of players away with staggering sums of money. The lawsuit comes weeks after PGA Tour stars, including Tiger Woods, met privately to discuss how to deal with LIV and after a federal judge ruled that the PGA Tour LIV golfers were banned from the FedEx Cup -Could rule out playoffs that ended in late August.

In its countersuit, the PGA Tour alleged that while LIV Golf said the Tour’s rules violated antitrust laws, LIV had signed players into contracts with obligations “far more restrictive” than the Tour’s rules required, “including a ban on the Participation in conflicting events not allowing a request for clearance contrary to the tour’s conflicting event rules.

“However, LIV told the players that the Tour’s conduct was anticompetitive and against regulations in order to persuade LIV’s players that breaking their agreements with the Tour would benefit them,” reads the counterclaim.

LIV Golf’s suit was originally brought by 11 former PGA Tour players, and LIV joined in late August. Four of the players had already retired from the suit, and on Tuesday four other players – Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch, Ian Poulter and Hudson Swafford – retired. The three individual golfers remaining in the suit are Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein.

“I am pleased that the players on the tour are finally being heard, respected and valued and are benefiting from the changes recently implemented,” Mickelson said in a statement. “LIV’s involvement in these matters protects the rights of the players and I no longer feel it necessary to participate in the proceedings.”

At the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews, Scotland, on Wednesday, Rory McIlroy told reporters the two sides must meet down the middle.

“The game of golf is tearing itself apart right now, and that’s not good for anyone,” McIlroy said. “It’s not good for the guys on this side or the traditional system, and it’s not good for the guys on the other side either. It’s not good for anyone.”