September 29, (THEWILL) – Late Wednesday night, the PGA Tour countersued LIV Golf in the most recent legal exchange between the rival groups, as they contend over the future of golf.
The PGA Tour said that the LIV Golf, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, tediously interfered with the contracts of players who left the tour for its fledgling rival. This comes after the PGA Tour was sued by LIV and three other golfers for antitrust breaches. The PGA refuted that assertion and added their countersuit allegations in a 72-page document submitted on Wednesday.
The PGA complaint read: “Indeed, a key component of LIV’s strategy has been to intentionally induce TOUR members to breach their TOUR agreements and play in LIV events while seeking to maintain their TOUR memberships and play in marquee TOUR events like The Players Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs, so LIV can free ride off the TOUR and its platform.
“LIV has openly sought to damage the TOUR’s business relationships with its members by inducing them to breach their contractual requirements, even going so far as to pay members’ legal fees to make breaching their contracts with TOUR more enticing.”
Other claimed restrictions include contracts stipulating that athletes must compete in every LIV event, that athletes must promote LIV on their social media accounts, that LIV must authorise all media appearances, and that athletes, upon request, must introduce LIV to their own sponsors. The PGA Tour also criticised LIV for mandating that some of the golfers recruit new PGA Tour participants.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
