Eleven golfers on the LIV Golf circuit, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, challenging their suspensions after they joined the controversial Saudi Arabia-financed rebel tour.
The suit was filed Wednesday in the Northern District of California by Mickelson, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak and Peter Uihlein.
The PGA Tour suspended players who appeared at the inaugural event of the LIV Golf series north of London in early June.
Critics consider LIV to be a tool of the Saudi government, accusing it of seeking to distract attention from Riyadh’s human rights record and potential links to 9/11 plotters.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said at the time that 17 members competing in the inaugural LIV event were in violation of the Tour’s tournament regulations and that they “made their choice for their own financial-based reasons.”
The lawsuit accuses the PGA Tour of exercising its monopoly muscle to crush its overseas competition and in the process punish players who joined it
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