PGA Tour: Following their filing of a lawsuit asking for the lifting of their suspensions in order to be allowed to participate in the lucrative FedEx Cup Playoffs that conclude the season, a number of LIV Golf rebels have been labelled by the PGA Tour as “fabricating an emergency.”
Tuesday in San Jose, California, is the date set for a hearing for the interim restraining order after the Tour instantly suspended everyone who took part in the Saudi-sponsored breakaway series.
11 suspended players are named in the anti-trust lawsuit, including 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, but it is reported that only three of those players — Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, and Hudson Swafford — are attempting to re-enter the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The three-tournament series’ bonus pool totals $75 million (£62 million), with $18 million (£15 million) going to the victor.
“The plaintiffs have waited nearly two months to seek relief from the court, fabricating an ’emergency’ they now maintain requires immediate action,” read a PGA Tour statement.
Plaintiffs have joined the rival golf league LIV Golf, which has paid them tens of millions of dollars in guaranteed money provided by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to obtain their violations, despite knowing full well that they would violate tour regulations and be suspended for doing so.
“TRO (temporary restraining order) 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 anti-trust laws do not allow plaintiffs to have their cake and eat it too.”
The PGA Tour emphasises that not every suspended player is trying to play in the FedEx and that the rebel players have known since June 9 that joining LIV Golf would result in penalties.
“In a telling sign, several other LIV players, including four other plaintiffs in this case, recognise there is no emergency or irreparable harm; they too have ‘qualified’ to play in the FedEx Cup but have not asked the court for the extraordinary relief sought through this motion,” added the statement.
The players’ participation in the LIV league is outside the PGA Tour’s rules, according to the lead attorney for the organisation, Elliot Peters (handbook).
“For enormous sums of cash supplied by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, plaintiffs wilfully breached their agreements with the PGA Tour.
“The players’ purported harm is entirely self-induced.”
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