Phil Mickelson is among 11 LIV Golf players who have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour to challenge their suspensions, pointing at “anticompetitive rules and practices”.
“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 states. “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.”
Bryson DeChambeau, Ian Poulter, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones are the other players putting their names to the suit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
According to the lawsuit, the PGA Tour threatened to place lifetime bans on LIV players and also threatened sponsors, vendors and agents to convince players not to participate in LIV Golf events.
The Saudi backed league has been under the spotlight for luring top golfers with undisclosed massive amounts of money, with some of them banned from PGA events. Last week it was reported that Tiger Woods rejected a $700 million proposal to join the league.
