LIV Golf lawsuit – Syndication Server

Judge grants LIV Golf stay of discovery pending appeal, rules against PGA Tour in latest filing

The timeline for a trial could move well into 2024 and beyond.

LIV Golf picked up a rare win in its antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

Last month Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled in the U.S. Northern District of California court that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund – as well as its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan were both subject to discovery and depositions in the United States, a major blow to LIV’s legal team.

LIV’s lawyers then appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in order to further delay the discovery process. On Wednesday, Judge Freeman granted the PIF and Al-Rumayyan’s motion for a stay of discovery pending the appeal, a decision that could take 1-2 years according to Jodi Balsam, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and former counsel for the NFL.

The Tour felt it was unfair that it was forced to continue complying with discovery while the PIF and Al-Rumayyan were able to kick the issue down the road, and argued LIV lawyers could benefit from “gamesmanship.”

Judge Freeman disagreed and denied the PGA Tour’s cross-motion for a stay of all discovery.

“Memories fade, and documents may disappear over time. Thus, a full halt of discovery would harm the litigation process,” the court filing read. Judge Freeman also called the Tour’s gamesmanship claim “unconvincing.”

The original lawsuit was filed in August of 2022 by Phil Mickelson and went on to include 10 other players, but has since been taken over by LIV Golf, which is almost exclusively financed by the PIF. The wealth fund, organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.

The Tour then filed a countersuit against LIV. In February, the court ruled the Tour could add the PIF and Al-Rumayyan as defendants in its countersuit, dragging the financiers deeper into the judicial weeds.

So, what comes next? Antitrust cases involve not just investigating a company, but rather an entire industry. For that reason, the discovery process can be voluminous and exhausting, and the case – currently set for a Jan. 8, 2024 trial date – is still early in the discovery phase. The Tour has argued for a November 12, 2024 trial date, while LIV has made a case for May 17, 2024.

If they lose their appeal, PIF and Al-Rumayyan could comply and provide depositions and documents, though LIV lawyers have previously claimed that taking part in depositions would violate Saudi Arabian law. If they were to comply, the ramifications could have adverse effects on the PIF’s other investments in the States. Does Al-Rumayyan want to answer questions about the PIF’s motives given that LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its human rights record? It’s unlikely.

They could also refuse to comply by not submitting documents or failing to meet deadlines, but that opens the door for the court to issue a ruling of contempt, which may lead to sanctions and fines that could totally upend LIV’s case.

A decision has yet to be made on revised trial deadlines just yet, but previous comments in filings state that if the discovery process is delayed, the case may be, too. Until then, we continue to wait.

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Peter Uihlein removes name from LIV Golf antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour

Only Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Jones remain as the final two player plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Peter Uihlein removed his name from LIV Golf’s antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, according to a Thursday filing in the U.S. Northern District of California, leaving just Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Jones as the final two player plaintiffs.

The original lawsuit was filed in August of 2022 by Phil Mickelson and went on to include 10 other players, but has since been taken over by LIV Golf, which is almost exclusively financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The wealth fund, organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.

The upstart circuit has suffered a pair of major legal setbacks over the last month, first via a United Kingdom arbitration panel, and second via Judge Beth Labson Freeman. Judge Freeman ruled in the U.S. Northern District of California court that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund – as well as its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan were both subject to discovery and depositions.

UPDATE: What’s next for LIV’s antitrust case against the PGA Tour?

On Thursday evening, a New York Times report also claimed the United States Department of Justice has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for records regarding former President Donald Trump’s ties to LIV Golf.

LIV will be back in action next week with LIV Golf Tulsa at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, May 12-14. Uihlein is currently second in LIV Golf’s season-long points race thanks to a runner-up finish at LIV Golf Mayakoba in the season opener.

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LIV Golf takes yet another legal blow in United States court, must comply with documents and witnesses for depositions

Last month a judge ruled that depositions could be conducted in Riyadh, but the new ruling sets them in New York.

After suffering a major setback via a United Kingdom arbitration panel on Thursday, the legal hits kept coming for LIV Golf on Friday, this time with regard to its antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled in the U.S. Northern District of California court that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund – as well as its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan are both subject to discovery and depositions, a major blow to LIV’s legal team.

Last month U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen ruled that PIF and Al-Rumayyan’s depositions could be conducted at a place of the Tour’s choosing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but Freeman’s order overrules the previous decision made by van Keulen. The first deposition subpoenas served to PIF and Al-Rumayyan established a location in New York City.

LIV’s lawyers have appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in order to delay the discovery process.

The original lawsuit was filed in August of 2022 by Phil Mickelson and went on to include 10 other players, but has since been taken over by LIV Golf, which is almost exclusively financed by the PIF (aside from its newly announced first global partner). The wealth fund, organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.

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PIF and Al-Rumayyan could comply and provide depositions and documents, though LIV lawyers have previously claimed that taking part in depositions would violate Saudi Arabian law. If they were to comply, the ramifications could have adverse effects on the PIF’s other investments in the states. Does Al-Rumayyan want to answer questions about the PIF’s motives given that LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its human rights record? It’s unlikely.

The court hasn’t extended deadlines just yet, but previous comments in filings state that if the discovery process is delayed, the case may be, too.

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‘No one is angry at anybody’: Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson don’t think Masters week will be awkward for LIV golfers

“I have nothing against anybody. If you change jobs, I’m not mad at you.”

Is the Masters going to be awkward for LIV golfers and PGA Tour players? Not so fast, says Bubba Watson and Brooks Koepka.

Speaking to media ahead of the LIV Golf League’s third event of the 2023 season in Orlando at Orange County National, Watson and Koepka were speaking, along with Patrick Reed, in advance of this week’s tournament, but a majority of the questions were focused on next week’s Masters.

Watson and Reed have each slid on green jackets at Augusta National while Koepka has collected four majors in his career. In recent weeks, there has been plenty of discussion about how LIV golfers would interact with those from the PGA Tour and whether it would be tense. However, Watson and Koepka said don’t expect anything to happen.

“I’m going to be honest, man. It’s only awkward in the media,” Watson said. “I’ve talked to people that are going to be there. I’m going to sign up with Jason Day and Cam Young in the par 3. Some guys have already asked me to play some practice rounds. Media is the only one that is pushing it. I have nothing against anybody. If you change jobs, I’m not mad at you. If you start reporting for somebody else, hey, man, it’s a better decision for you and your family.”

Added Koepka: “I think that’s one of the big things. Down in Jupiter, we see each other — I was just with Rory (McIlroy) and J.T. (Justin Thomas) yesterday, and I think Keegan (Bradley) was there. We see each other quite a bit. I mean, there’s a lot of conversations. I was talking with Rory for probably about 30 minutes just about the ball and all the other stuff that’s going on. No one is angry at anybody from what I’ve seen.”

The Masters will be the first time many golfers on the different tours have seen one another since The Open Championship last July. Some have played in DP World Tour events, like the Desert Dubai Classic where McIlroy topped Reed by one shot.

Although the players may not hold animosity, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf as leagues is a separate story. The two are in an ongoing legal battle in federal court.

Eleven LIV Golf players, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August of last year. Over the last six months, players have joined and dropped from the suit, and now just LIV Golf, DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein remain.

Yet Watson and Koepka insist the players themselves don’t hold anything personal against others, even saying comments from players like McIlroy against LIV Golf aren’t surprising.

“(He’s) protecting his entity, man,” Watson said. “He’s protecting his business, which is fine.”

Aside from the aforementioned antitrust lawsuit, Reed has sued numerous media members and entities for defamation. There was also a case involving LIV Golf players and the DP World Tour that will clarify whether LIV players can play in DP World Tour events.

LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

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Lynch: Saudis have Greg Norman to thank for their U.S. legal nightmare

Norman opens LIV’s second season with his trademark delusional enthusiasm masquerading as unstoppable momentum.

While traveling to LIV Golf’s season-opening event in Mexico, Greg Norman posted to social media two photos of himself on a private jet, one as he read, the other while gazing meditatively through the window. The accompanying caption read: “Books are the training weights of the mind — Epictetus.”

In keeping with the custom of his every waking hour, it was carefully staged image-building, suggesting a swashbuckling captain of industry on another successful sortie. With the time spent curating selfies, Norman could have scrolled to another quote from Epictetus — or, more accurately, from his transcribing student Arrian, since the Greek Stoic himself left no writings: “Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.”

Norman’s LIV Golf has a solitary anchor that prevents it from being dashed on the rocks of commercial reality, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. When it comes to an ability to throw good money after bad, the PIF is an enviable ally to have. But as Norman opens LIV’s second season with his trademark delusional enthusiasm masquerading as unstoppable momentum, he must worry that legal developments in California’s Northern District might prompt that affluent anchor to cast him adrift.

The past week brought disappointments that the flaxen-haired finger puppet has seldom experienced outside of Augusta National.

On Feb. 16, the court rejected arguments by the Saudi investment fund and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, that they should not have to comply with discovery requests in LIV’s antitrust action against the PGA Tour. Producing documents or submitting to a deposition, Saudi lawyers argued, would violate sovereign immunity and endanger Al-Rumayyan, who is under no illusions about the mercurial brutality of the Crown Prince for whom he functions as bagman (hey, caveat emptor!). But because Al-Rumayyan is involved in decision-making and the Fund owns 93% of LIV (while paying 100% of its costs), the pretense of being a mere investor was dismissed and the court compelled them to comply.

Then, on Feb. 21 Judge Beth Labson Freeman granted the Tour’s request to add Al-Rumayyan and the Fund as co-defendants in its countersuit against LIV that alleges interference with player contracts. Now a party in the litigation, the Saudi Fund and its chief can no longer rebuff the jurisdiction of the very court whose protection they sought. Within hours, the Kingdom signaled that it would file an amicus brief in support of, well, itself, about how intolerable this whole justice concept is proving to be.

The Saudi reluctance to submit to America’s permissive discovery process hardly requires explanation. Even if the court placed strict parameters on discovery, the process carries huge risk as PIF investments — known and stealth, commercial and political — are subjected to scrutiny and potential exposure. That might strike Al-Rumayyan as an awfully high price to continue underwriting Norman’s folly.

This litigation exists for one reason: to make real the fantasy that Norman sold his players — the PGA Tour had no right to ban them (it does), and that they would be permitted to play LIV events and whatever Tour stops they wish to cherry pick (they won’t). Players who bought his bill of goods must by now realize that Norman’s vows dissolve quicker than those of Zsa Zsa Gabor (Google her, kids).

The promised major broadcast rights deal became a giveaway to a little-watched network whose affiliates prefer Judge Judy reruns to tournament action. The promised stampede of blue-chip sponsors yielded one low-profile shipping outfit. The promised signings of seven star players delivered Dean Burmester and Danny Lee, who wouldn’t be considered top-drawer in a one-drawer world. Instead, the promised frenzy of off-season trading among teams with names like RangeGoats and Majesticks produced only the sobering realization that an enterprise aimed at the young is hostage to middle-aged marketing dorks.

No wonder Norman has taken to quoting a Stoic who believed that events are beyond our control and that we ought to calmly accept whatever comes our way.

Deadlines now loom by which the Saudis must show a good faith effort to meet their legal obligations, but the likelihood of the Public Investment Fund or Al-Rumayyan submitting to probing by PGA Tour lawyers is about the same as Norman finally getting that green jacket. That raises the prospect of LIV’s antitrust claim being withdrawn or dismissed, which would strand players as castaways on Greg’s Gilligan’s Island and force a reckoning on the Saudi commitment to a product that can’t gain traction in the only market that can confer serious commercial viability.

Sharks have a blind spot right in front of their snouts, so it’s unsurprising that Norman swaggered into federal court and declared victory before the ink was dry on his specious claims. But even he must by now grasp the predicament in which he has placed his employer. Thanks to Norman, Al-Rumayyan is learning that the U.S. judicial system doesn’t grant MBS’s agents the kind of untrammeled latitude they are accustomed to at home, or for that matter in Turkish consulates.

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LIV Golf’s anti-trust lawsuit against PGA Tour handed severe blow in federal court

The ruling could radically change the fledgling circuit’s anti-trust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

With a second season of LIV Golf just days from the starting line, a federal judge has dealt a blow to the group that financially supports the upstart league, one that could radically change the fledgling circuit’s anti-trust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

Although LIV Golf attorneys have been attempting to shed light on the PGA Tour’s organizational structure and financial dealings, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund tried to avoid the same fate, claiming “sovereign immunity” during a November filing.

But a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the PIF and its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan must provide the same information, a move that’s expected to slow the aggressiveness of any suit, and might even halt it completely. It’s uncertain if Saudi officials will want to divulge such information.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, in the U.S. District Court of Northern District of California, rejected the argument in an order that was made Feb. 9, but which remained under seal as LIV and the PGA Tour fought over proposed redactions of confidential information. A redacted copy of the order was included in a filing released late Thursday.

The original suit, which was filed back in August by Phil Mickelson and 10 other golfers, was taken over by LIV Golf, which is under the PIF umbrella.

However, officials for the Saudi-run firm have insisted they only have high-level oversight over LIV Golf and don’t deal with day-to-day operations. The request also stated the move could set a “dangerous precedent” if PIF had to reveal its books, as the company has investments in major corporations like Walmart and Starbucks and could be ripe for similar requests over any suits filed against companies it holds.

The wealth fund, which was organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.

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But Thursday’s filing stated that PIF and LIV are too entangled to separate them for legal purposes.

“The Court DENIES the motion of PIF to quash the subpoena directed to PIF on the grounds of sovereign immunity because it finds that PIF’s conduct falls within the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act,” the order read. “It is plain that PIF is not a mere investor in LIV; it is the moving force behind the founding, funding, oversight and operation of LIV … PIF’s actions are indisputably the type of actions by which a private party engages in trade and traffic or commerce.”

LIV attorneys have claimed that the PGA Tour is using monopoly power, illegally suspending players and hanging the possibility of those players to play in future major tournaments, but the Tour filed a countersuit, claiming LIV is using players, “and the game of golf to sportswash the recent history of Saudi atrocities and to further the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s Vision 2030 initiatives.”

PGA Tour lawyers highlighted a text exchange between Al-Rumayyan and Bryson DeChambeau as a shining example of the official’s depth of involvement, noting that Al-Rumayyan reached out to a TV executive in an attempt to secure a media agreement.

“This isn’t what a government does. This is what somebody that is running a golf league does, LIV is pretty much a shell and the financial consequences, be they good or bad of the investment, flow through to PIF,” Tour lawyer Elliot Peters said during a January hearing.

LIV Golf attorneys have already filed an appeal to Thursday’s ruling.

LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record with guaranteed money and multi-million dollar deals. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

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LIV Golf lawyers admit to ‘virtually zero’ revenue in 2022 in latest court filing

Earlier this week, Tour lawyers provided four reasons to delay the current trial date, extend the discovery schedule.

After spending more than $700 million to attract talent and produce its product in 2022, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that LIV Golf made little to no money in its inaugural year.

The upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is currently locked in a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit with the PGA Tour. A motion filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for Northern California saw LIV lawyers admit to “virtually zero” revenue in 2022 in an argument against the Tour, which wishes to add PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as plaintiffs in a countersuit against LIV.

Earlier this week PGA Tour lawyers provided four reasons to delay the current trial date and extend the discovery schedule for the ongoing antitrust lawsuit, a move deemed to be “exploiting litigation” by LIV Golf lawyers.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman is overseeing the trial that is currently set for January 2024. The deadline to complete document discovery is March 30. The fact discovery deadline is May 26. Freeman will hear the arguments for and against delay on Feb. 24.

“The Tour’s motion to amend should be denied because the amendment would be futile, would cause unfair prejudice, was unduly delayed, and is obviously intended to inappropriately delay the case and resolution of Plaintiffs’ antitrust claims,” wrote LIV’s attorneys. “Delay will equally harm LIV because the Tour continues its anticompetitive conduct while the litigation is pending. The Tour has damaged LIV’s brand, driven up its costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, and driven down revenues to virtually zero.”

In a meeting with select members of the media during its team championship last October, LIV Golf officials laid out some plans for the future and how it was going all in on the team format. The aim is for a business model that would eventually be similar to that of the NFL and other major team sports, with hopes that franchising its teams will create a revenue stream that LIV currently doesn’t possess.

Former Chief Operating Officer Atul Khosla, who has since left his position with LIV, said a successful 2023 would see 12 established teams and brands, as well as a commercialized product.

“We’ve got to get on TV, we’ve got to have corporate partners,” Khosla explained in October. “Those are successful things that we need, those are sort of milestones that we need to hit go into next year.”

LIV announced a multiyear broadcast agreement with the CW network last month, though the deal is reportedly a revenue-share where LIV won’t receive rights fees and continues to cover production costs.

LIV will return to action with the debut event of its re-branded 14-event league later this month at Mayakoba’s El Camaleón Golf Course on the Riviera Maya, Feb. 24-26.

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LIV Golf lawyers argue PGA Tour is ‘exploiting litigation’ after request to delay antitrust trial, discovery schedule

LIV Golf lawyers said “the Tour is exploiting litigation delay to choke off air to LIV and players” in a joint motion.

Lawyers for both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf filed a joint motion Sunday to the U.S. District Court for Northern California to ask for a case management conference to discuss delaying the current trial date and extending the discovery schedule for the ongoing antitrust lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman is overseeing the trial that is currently set for January 2024. The deadline to complete document discovery is March 30. The fact discovery deadline is May 26.

Lawyers for the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financially supported by the Public Investment Fund argued “the Tour is exploiting litigation delay to choke off air to LIV and players” and that the current timeframes are “not only workable, but critical to the careers of the Player Plaintiffs and the viability of LIV as a legitimate competitor to the Tour.”

https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2022/08/03/11-liv-golfers-lawsuit-pga-tour/

The PGA Tour’s argument centers around four key reasons. From the joint motion:

First, the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“PIF”) and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, continue to resist compliance with the Tour’s subpoenas for documents and testimony, a dispute that remains unresolved and which will likely lead to an appeal.
Second, the Tour has sought leave to amend its counterclaims to add PIF and Mr. Al-Rumayyan as counterdefendants, because recently produced documents show that they played a central role in tortiously interfering with the Tour’s contracts.
Third, LIV, the current and former player plaintiffs, and several third parties have failed to produce key documents and, in some cases, have failed to produce documents at all.
Fourth, the nature of this case has significantly evolved since the Court set the current January 2024 trial date, from a case about individual golfers to a case about two competing golf leagues, substantially undermining Plaintiffs’ stated basis for an expedited case schedule.

“Given the present status of discovery (or lack thereof) from PIF and Mr. Al-Rumayyan in particular, it is not realistic for the parties to meet the current deadlines,” the Tour lawyers wrote. “In fact, PIF and Mr. Al-Rumayyan have already signaled that they are unlikely to comply with any order from this Court compelling them to provide discovery, instead indicating that they will pursue their meritless defenses through lengthy appeals.”

While the 2022 season as all about player movement, the discussion for 2023 will largely center around the various lawsuits in play. Aside from the aforementioned antitrust lawsuit, Patrick Reed has sued numerous media members and entities for defamation and a case involving LIV Golf players and the DP World Tour began in London on Monday that will clarify whether LIV players can play in DP World Tour events.

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LIV Golf attorneys’ request for communications from Condoleezza Rice, others at Augusta National as part of antitrust suit is denied

Accusations center around if the PGA Tour tried to use the threat of not playing in the Masters as leverage.

In what appears to be a failed attempt to pull more sides into the fracas, LIV Golf filed a request earlier this month to obtain third-party discovery of communications involving members of Augusta National as part of its antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour. That request was denied in court Monday, according to documents obtained by Golfweek.

LIV Golf attorneys served subpoenas to former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem as well as a half dozen of the Tour’s policy board directors past and present in the most recent round of legal salvos. Included in that filing was a request to produce all communications between the parties “and any member of Augusta National relating to a New Tour, including but not limited to LIV Golf.”

LIV Golf lawyers contended that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Stephens Bank CEO Warren Stephens “apparently attempted to influence the DOJ (Department of Justice) to not investigate the Tour.”

However, a U.S. District Court of Northern California judge struck down the request Monday. The ruling from U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Van Keulen stated:

The cited documents do not implicate in any way the Subpoenaed Parties. Nor do they reflect communications by or between the identified additional targets. Indeed, for the most part, the identified targets appear merely as names on lists or in other oblique references made by others. Any connection between an identified target and a Subpoenaed Party, based on the cited documents, is highly speculative.

LIV Golf attorneys have alleged that the PGA Tour has used monopoly power to illegally suspended players, but the most recent accusations center around if the Tour attempted to use the threat of not playing in future Masters as leverage in the ongoing battle.

Past Masters champions and current LIV Golfers Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia will be among those invited for the 2023 playing of the event, Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley confirmed in December.

“We will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament,” Ridley wrote. “Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it. Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.”

Ridley left open the possibility that the eligibility criteria, which includes using the Official World Golf Ranking to determine invitees, could be revised in the future, meaning more LIV Golf players could potentially qualify.

“As we have said in the past, we look at every aspect of the Tournament each year, and any modifications or changes to invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April,” he said.

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Report: Saudi Public Investment Fund asks for ‘sovereign immunity’ in court battle with PGA Tour

The request stated the move could set a “dangerous precedent” if PIF had to reveal its books.

While LIV Golf attorneys are trying to shed light on the PGA Tour’s organizational structure and financial dealings as part of an anti-trust lawsuit, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has insisted it shouldn’t have to do the same, claiming “sovereign immunity.”

According to a report from Bloomberg News, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan on Tuesday asked a federal judge in California to quash a request by the PGA Tour to compel their testimony and produce documents for a lawsuit accusing LIV of unfair competition for offering players lucrative deals to break their PGA contracts.

The original suit, which was filed back in August by Phil Mickelson and 10 other golfers, was taken over by LIV Golf, which is under the PIF umbrella.

However, officials for the Saudi-run firm said they only have high-level oversight over LIV Golf and don’t deal with day-to-day operations. The request also stated the move could set a “dangerous precedent” if PIF had to reveal its books, as the company has investments in major corporations like Walmart and Starbucks and could be ripe for similar requests over any suits filed against companies it holds. The wealth fund, which was organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, is currently estimated to be worth $676 billion.

“Now that LIV (Golf) is involved, it’s not necessary for me to be involved,’’ Mickelson said in September when he dropped out of the suit. “The only reason for me to stay in is (monetary) damages, which I don’t really want or need anything. I do think it’s important that the players have the right to play when and where they want, when and where they qualify for. And now that LIV (Golf) is a part of it, that will be accomplished if and when they win.’’

The original 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, including Plaintiffs Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak, and Peter Uihlein (“Plaintiffs”), 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.

The PGA Tour then sent the U.S. District Court of Northern California a 32-page response to the initial lawsuit, plus a separate seven-page example of what it calls mischaracterizations and mistruths presented by the LIV players.

It then added a countersuit in September, seeking damages for brand and reputation damage.

While LIV has alleged the Tour uses monopoly power and illegally suspended players, the Tour’s countersuit claims LIV is using players, “and the game of golf to sportswash the recent history of Saudi atrocities and to further the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s Vision 2030 initiatives.”

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