“Our players, fans and partners can now focus on what really matters.”
The first of many legal battles between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf officially took place on Tuesday.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled against Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford after they sought to sue their way into the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. Last week, the trio filed for a temporary restraining order as part of a larger antitrust lawsuit against the Tour.
The three golfers argued they should be allowed to compete in the playoffs because it would cause them irreparable financial harm, seeing as they had already earned a qualifying spot before they were suspended for playing in a LIV Golf event. Freeman, however, ruled in the Tour’s favor.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sent a memo to players following the decision. LIV Golf also released a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“With today’s news, our players, fans and partners can now focus on what really matters over the next three weeks: the best players in the world competing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, capping off an incredibly compelling season with the crowning of the FedEx Cup champion at the Tour Championship,” Monahan said in part.
Full memo:
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has sent the following memo to Tour players, informing them "three Saudi Arabia-financed LIV Golf players" had been denied their restraining order and that "players, fans and partners can now focus on what really matters." pic.twitter.com/9sP7dbODUk
After what is sure to be the first of many legal matches between the PGA Tour and players who jumped ship to play for the upstart LIV Golf Invitational Series, the Tour is 1 up.
On Tuesday a judge ruled against Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford after they sought to sue their way into the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. Last week, the trio filed for a temporary restraining order as part of a larger antitrust lawsuit against the Tour.
The three golfers argued they should be allowed to compete in the playoffs because it would cause them irreparable financial harm, seeing as they had already earned a qualifying spot before they were suspended for playing in a LIV Golf event.
Memphis will not be the site of any on-course clashes between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf series thanks to a federal judge in California.
Memphis will not be the site of any on-course clashes between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf Series thanks to a federal judge in California.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled against LIV golfers Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford after they sought to force their way into the FedExCup Playoffs. Last week, the trio jointly filed for a temporary restraining order last week as part a larger antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
The three golfers – who defected to the LIV Golf series after already earning enough points to qualify for the PGA’s postseason – argued they should be allowed to compete in the FedExCup Playoffs largely because it would cause them irreparable financial harm. The postseason begins Thursday with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Freeman’s ruling is a significant victory for the PGA Tour in the first of what is expected to be a series of legal battles.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is scheduled to tee off at 8:15 a.m. ET with Brandon Wu, Trey Mullinax and Brendon Todd on No. 1, and Matthew NeSmith, Gary Woodland and Beau Hossler on No. 10. All told, there will be 121 golfers in the field. The top 125 players in the FedExCup standings qualify for the event, but Tommy Fleetwood (personal), Daniel Berger (injury), Lanto Griffin (injury) and Nate Lashley (injury) will not participate.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
“Final field set for FedEx St. Jude Championship as FedExCup Playoffs begin.” Read the subject line on the official press release emailed to the media
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – “Final field set for FedEx St. Jude Championship as FedEx Cup Playoffs begin.”
So read the subject line on the official press release that was emailed to the media Monday morning. Only thing is, it might not necessarily be accurate.
That’s because the ongoing, bitterly contentious and very public brouhaha between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series is headed to court Tuesday afternoon. Last week, three LIV Golf players – Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford – filed for a temporary restraining order against the PGA Tour that would nullify their suspensions and allow them to participate in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This week’s event, for the first time in its 65-year history, serves as the kickoff of the PGA Tour’s three-tournament postseason.
A hearing has been scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, at which time the U.S. District Court of Northern California will decide whether Gooch, Jones and Swafford will be on the course at the start of play Thursday.
But Tuesday’s hearing is much more than that, according to four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III, who won the 2000 FedEx St. Jude Classic and will be part of this week’s television broadcast team for the Golf Channel and NBC Sports.
“Huge precedents are being set,” said Begay. “Either way, it will have a huge impact on the next steps for both organizations and the path for these players moving forward.”
Begay didn’t sugarcoat his opinion of LIV Golf.
“I look at LIV Golf as Ice Capades for golf,” he said. “It’s not competition at its fiercest, highest, most cut-throat level, which is what I think the true golf fans want to see. If players want to be part of the game’s elite, if they want to contest golf at the hardest, most challenging level, you do it on the PGA Tour. I don’t see that changing.”
Begay also isn’t so sure that this week’s ruling will significantly affect on-course matters in Memphis this week.
“The only thing it will impact is the two organizations at the center of this dispute and what their next steps will be,” he said. “A lot’s at stake here. But I don’t know if it changes anybody’s goals as a player.”
Four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III will be part of the broadcast crew for this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. (Kent Horner/NBC Sports)
The potential mandatory injunction isn’t the only legal battle being waged between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Gooch, Jones, Swafford and six others (including last year’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational winner Abraham Ancer) filed a lawsuit challenging their respective suspensions.
The lawsuit, obtained by Golfweek, states: “As the Tour’s monopoly power has grown, it has employed its dominance to craft an arsenal of anticompetitive restraints to protect its long-standing monopoly. Now, threatened by the entry of LIV Golf, Inc. (“LIV Golf”), and diametrically opposed to its founding mission, the Tour has ventured to harm the careers and livelihoods of any golfers … who have the temerity to defy the Tour and play in tournaments sponsored by the new entrant. The Tour has done so in an intentional and relentless effort to crush nascent competition before it threatens the Tour’s monopoly.”
On Monday, the PGA Tour filed a 32-page response to the suit filed against it, as well as a seven-page example of what it calls mischaracterizations and mistruths presented by the LIV players.
Of particular interest in the Tour’s response is that it said 98 percent of its net profits are given to players, tournaments and charities. The Tour said that allowing suspended LIV golfers to compete for FedEx Cup Playoff purses would create financial harm to players who have remained committed to the Tour.
LIV Golf member Matt Jones, pictured at TPC Southwind in Memphis during the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, along with Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford, have filed a temporary restraining order against the PGA Tour. (Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports)
Golfweek reporter Jason Lusk contributed to this report.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
PGA Tour accuses LIV plaintiffs of ‘half-truths and falsehoods.’
After 11 LIV Golf players sued the PGA Tour last week, with three of them seeking entry into the Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs that start this week, the Tour on Monday sent to the U.S. District Court of Northern California a 32-page response plus a separate seven-page example of what it calls mischaracterizations and mistruths presented by the LIV players.
The court is scheduled on Tuesday to hear a complaint filed on behalf of suspended PGA Tour players Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones that seeks a mandatory injunction against the PGA Tour’s suspension of these players from the playoffs. Those three seek to be allowed to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs that begin with this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee. Each of those players would have qualified for the playoffs based on points had they not been suspended.
Of particular interest in the Tour’s response is that it said 98 percent of its net profits are given to players, tournaments and charities. The Tour said that allowing suspended LIV golfers to compete for FedEx Cup Playoff purses would create financial harm to players who have remained committed to the Tour.
The Tour’s response Monday and Tuesday’s court hearing involve only the topic of allowing the three players into the FedEx Cup Playoffs and do not address the larger issue of Tour suspensions of LIV Golf players as a whole — any resolution in that case likely will take months or even years. Tuesday’s hearing likely will center on whether the three players will be irreparably harmed if they are not allowed to compete in the playoffs, meaning they should be allowed to play because any lost income from the playoffs would be irretrievably lost.
Keker, Van Nest & Peters – lead counsel representing the PGA Tour in the dispute – filed the Tour’s response to the court, with highlights as selected on the Tour’s behalf listed below. Parts of the Tour’s filing were redacted as sent to media.
The Tour is a membership organization that works on behalf of and for the benefit of its member players, unlike other sports governing bodies (like the NFL or NBA).
Members sign annual contracts committing exclusive media rights to the Tour so that that it may negotiate deals on their collective behalf (broadcast, sponsorship, merchandise, etc.). By enabling professional golfers to pool their media rights, the Tour has driven media and sponsorship money into the sport for the benefit of all Tour members.
Sponsorship, broadcast, and other revenues are distributed to members in the form of tournament purses, bonuses, retirement plan contributions, and other benefits. In 2021, $916 million—approximately 98% of the Tour’s net revenue—was allocated to players, tournaments, and charities. Of that, $770 million was allocated to players, including $443 million to player prize money and benefits, $110 million to player bonus programs, $17 million to Player Retirement Plan contributions, and $200 million to Player Retirement Plan earnings. As part of their annual contract, members agree not to play in, and thereby contribute their media rights to, non-Tour golf events held in North America that conflict with PGA Tour events.
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 to procure their breaches.
The Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) Plaintiffs have waited nearly two months to seek relief from the Court, fabricating an “emergency” they now maintain requires immediate action.
PGA Tour members and their agents were communicated with for more than year prior to the launch of the LIV Golf, and were made aware that participation would constitute a breach of contract and of the Tour’s rules.
TRO Plaintiffs have known since June 9—and indeed, earlier—that they would violate the Tour’s Regulations and forfeit their ability to play in the FedExCup Playoffs in exchange for accepting massive payments from LIV Golf.
In a telling sign, several other LIV players, including four other Plaintiffs in this case, recognize there is no emergency or irreparable harm; they too have “qualified” to play in the FedExCup but have not asked the Court for the extraordinary relief sought through this motion.
Unable to establish their claims based on any fair interpretation of admissible evidence, TRO Plaintiffs have resorted to mischaracterizing the record. The mischaracterizations, half-truths, and falsehoods are so numerous in Plaintiffs’ brief that the Tour couldn’t respond to all of them and instead had to create a separate chart identifying an exemplary set.
At the end of the day, the question is: why would a judge be convinced that these players were harmed after they were made aware of the rules and consequences, knowingly broke those rules, and now seek judicial permission to continue to break those rules? And with players making eye-popping guaranteed amounts of money, where is the demonstrated harm?
“The players’ participation in the LIV league is in violation of the PGA Tour’s Handbook and Tournament Regulations,” said Elliot Petersof Keker, Van Nest & Peters. “For enormous sums of cash supplied by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Plaintiffs willfully breached their agreements with the PGA Tour. The players’ purported harm is entirely self-induced. We will litigate this case vigorously to preserve the reputation of the PGA Tour and protect the benefits it offers to players.”
Safe to say this wasn’t what Hudson Swafford had in mind on this approach shot at the Masters.
But it’s a feeling many amateur golfers dealing with old clubs might recognize.
The Tallahassee, Florida, native took his second stroke on the 13th hole, and viewers saw two projectiles flying away from the shot. One was the ball, the other was the head of his iron.
It was a moment that instantly sparked reaction on Twitter, from people quick to point out the clubs he used — PXG, for those curious — to those who just wanted to have a laugh at a very human moment from Augusta National.
Hudson Swafford’s head came flying off of his club at impact and it gives me flashbacks to my first set of irons that had bad epoxy and did this to me at least once a round. pic.twitter.com/toXc1qpyeW
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Swafford ran away with the win thanks to some late-round heroics.
If you spent your Sunday afternoon and evening watching the NFL playoffs, you saw some exciting football. But you also missed some exciting golf.
During the final round of the 2022 American Express three players were tied for the lead at 20 under par with another six within three shots late in the action at the Stadium Course at PGA West, but it was Hudson Swafford who prevailed in the end. The 34-year-old shot an 8-under 64 to win at 23 under for his third win on Tour and first since the 2020 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. His first win came at the American Express in 2017.
Swafford broke the three-way tie atop the leaderboard with Francesco Molinari and Brian Harman with an eagle on the par-5 16th to move to 22 under. He grabbed some more breathing room with a clutch birdie from the edge of the green on the par-3 17th to take a three-shot advantage to the 18th tee.
A Swafford par on the 18th meant Tom Hoge needed to hole-out for eagle on his 72nd hole, which he did not. The 32-year-old Hoge finished second at 21 under, followed by Brian Harman, Lanto Griffin and Lee Hodges all T-3 at 20 under.
Mickelson never had a chance to make the cut in the third round, starting the day at 7 over.
If Patrick Cantlay is looking for some good news after an even-par round of 72 on the Pete Dye Stadium Course on Saturday in The American Express, it’s that he’s closer to the lead going into the final round this year than he was last year.
Cantlay was four shots off the lead entering the last round in 2021, then shot a 61 to finish one shot behind champion Si Woo Kim. This year, Cantlay is just three shots out of the lead after 54 holes.
After rounds of 62 and 68 to start the tournament, Cantlay struggled with his driver throughout Saturday’s round, made four bogeys and dropped out of the lead. He also saw his streak of 21 consecutive competitive rounds on the PGA Tour under 70 end.
Cantlay’s third round started with a bogey on the first hole when he hit his drive closer to the ninth fairway. He added bogeys on the third, sixth and ninth holes with making birdies on the second, fifth and eighth holes. His back nine featured eight pars and one birdie.
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Unkind cut for Mickelson
Phil Mickelson never had a chance to make the cut in the third round, starting the day at 7 over. That’s where Mickelson finished the tournament after a par-72 on the Stadium Course on Saturday, missing the cut in the tournament he hosts for the third consecutive year.
Thursday, Mickelson did almost the exact opposite, struggling early on the way to a 6-over 78, leaving him tied for last in the 156-player field with Austin Cook, who played the tougher Stadium Course at PGA West. The 78 matched the worst round he’s shot in this event. He also shot 78 in the fifth round in 2007.
But Mickelson was hardly the only big name to miss the cut, which came at 7-under 209. Past tournament champions missing the cut included Pat Perez, Adam Long, Jhonattan Vegas, Brian Gay, Bill Haas and Andrew Landry. Other notables missing the cut included Davis Love III, Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker and Luke Donald.
Swafford looking to win again
Hudson Swafford won the 2017 American Express title in a rainy week, holding off Adam Hadwin, who had shot a 59 at La Quinta Country Club that week.
Swafford made a quiet move up the leader board Saturday with a 66 on the Stadium Course and is tied for fifth at 15-under par as he looks to become the ninth player to win the tournament at least twice. He said his game isn’t quite the same as when he won the tournament.
“I might have drove it a little better in ’17,” Swafford said. “It’s been a — haven’t hit quite as many fairways, but really hit my irons beautifully, putting great, doing everything else pretty good. It’s kind of got that feel the way I feel like I’m rolling it.”
Mullinax playing through
Trey Mullinax didn’t hit a good tee shot on the par-5 11th hole, but that didn’t stop him from having a little fun at his own expense with a course official. Looking for his drive off the 11th tee near the 16th fairway, Mullinax told an official, “Hi, I’m playing the wrong hole.”
The top 10 players heading into the final day include six players looking for their first-ever PGA Tour victory.
With one round remaining in the 2022 American Express golf tournament, the leaderboard includes a lot of names that are probably new to even avid golf fans.
That’s okay, and not altogether surprising. Six of the last 15 champions here had never won a PGA event before a victory in the desert.
So with that in mind, here is everything you need to know about the contenders at the top of the leaderboard. There are 10 players at 15-under or better.
Of this group, there is one major champion, one former champion in the desert, three international players, three players playing this event for the first time, and six players looking for their first career PGA Tour win.
Paul Barjon (-18)
Age: 29
From: Born in Bordeaux, France; resides in Fort Worth, Texas
College: TCU
Number of PGA Tour wins: Zero
Best finish at this event: First appearance
Current World Golf Ranking: 313
Notable: With a win, Barjon would be the seventh international winner in the tournament’s 62-year history. It marks the first time the desert’s golf tournament would have back-to-back international winners as Si Woo Kim of South Korea won last year.
Lee Hodges (-18)
Age: 26
From: Born in Huntsville, Alabama, resides in Athens, Alabama
College: UAB and Alabama
Number of PGA Tour wins: Zero
Best finish at this event: First appearance
Current World Golf Ranking: 312
Notable: Hodges is from an athletic family. His cousin, Logan Stenberg, is an offensive lineman in the NFL for the Detroit Lions (as of 2021).
Tom Hoge (-17)
Tom Hoge tees off on hole one during the third round of The American Express at the La Quinta Country Club in La Quinta, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022.
Age: 32
From: North Carolina, but resides in Fargo, North Dakota
College: TCU
Number of PGA Tour wins: Zero
Best finish at this event: Tied for 6th in 2020
Current World Golf Ranking: 115
Notable: For starters, his name is pronounced exactly like the word Hoagie. This is the seventh time Hoge has played here and he missed the cut, four of the previous six, so this effort on these courses is a bit of a surprise.
Seamus Power (-16)
Age: 34
From: Tooraneena, County Waterford, Ireland
College: East Tennessee State
Number of PGA Tour wins: 1 (2021 Barbasol Championship)
Best finish at this event: Tie for 11th in 2018
Current World Golf Ranking: 49
Notable: Power won the Barbasol event last year on the sixth playoff hole over J.T. Poston. In doing so, he became the fifth player from the Republic of Ireland to win a PGA event, joining Pat Doyle, Peter O’Hara, Padraig Harrington, and Shane Lowry.
Lanto Griffin (-15)
Age: 33
From: Born in Mount Shasta, California, resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
College: VCU
Number of PGA Tour wins: 1 (2019 Houston Open)
Best finish at this event: Played twice and missed cut both times
Current World Golf Ranking: 117
Notable: Once on the Web.com Tour, Griffin won an event after making the cut on the number, the only time that has ever happened on that tour.
Harry Higgs (-15)
Harry Higgs tees off on the 13th hole of the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West during the American Express in La Quinta, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022.
Age: 30
From: Born in Camden, New Jersey, lives in Dallas, Texas
College: SMU
Number of PGA Tour wins: Zero
Best finish at this event: Played here once (2020) and missed the cut
Current World Golf Ranking: 141
Notable: He’s not nervous when the bright lights are on. Higgs has only played in one major tournament in his career, the 2021 PGA Championship, and he finished tied for fourth.
Hudson Swafford (-15)
Age: 34
From: Born in Tallahassee, Florida; resides in Sea Island, Georgia
College: University of Georgia
Number of PGA Tour wins: Two (2017 CareerBuilder Challenge, 2020 Puerto Rico Championship)
Best finish at this event: Winner in 2017
Current World Golf Ranking: 166
Notable: Hudson Swafford won this event in 2017, notably edging out Adam Hadwin, whose week included a 59 at La Quinta Country Club.
Cameron Young (-15)
Age: 24
From: Born in Scarborough, New York; resides in Jupiter, Florida
College: Wake Forest
Number of PGA Tour wins: Zero
Best finish at this event: First appearance
Current World Golf Ranking: 134
Notable: Cameron Young is the only player currently on the PGA Tour whose last name begins with a Y.
Francesco Molinari (-15)
Francesco Molinari of Italy walks on the 14th hole during the third round of The American Express at the Stadium Course at PGA West on January 22, 2022, in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Age: 39
From: Born and lives in Turin, Italy
College: University of Turin
Number of PGA Tour wins: Three (2018 Quicken Loans, 2018 British Open, 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational)
Best finish at this event: Tied for 10th in 2015
Current World Golf Ranking: 249
Notable: Molinari is one of 13 major champions in the field at The American Express this week. He won the 2018 British Open, outlasting a star-studded group of chasers that included Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, and Xander Schauffele.
Harold Varner III (-15)
Age: 31
From: Born in Akron, Ohio; resides in Charlotte, North Carolina
College: East Carolina
Number of PGA Tour wins: Zero
Best finish at this event: Tied for 18th in 2019
Current World Golf Ranking: 95
Notable: Varner does not have a PGA Tour win, but he does have a win on the European Tour. He won the Australian PGA Championship in 2016.
