The PGA Tour has filed a federal lawsuit towards Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan — the governor of the fund that funds LIV Golf — based on a report by ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.
Al-Rumayyan additionally serves because the chairman of the English soccer membership Newcastle United and the Saudi-owned petroleum firm Saudi Aramco. According to Schlabach, sources advised ESPN that the PGA Tour’s attorneys are “attempting to obtain a motion to compel from a federal judge that would require Al-Rumayyan to be deposed as part of another federal lawsuit in California involving the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.”
“The motion to compel would also require the Public Investment Fund, which is reportedly worth more than $500 billion, to release documents to PGA Tour attorneys through discovery,” Schlabach wrote.
The PGA Tour countersued LIV Golf in late September, accusing the breakaway league of “interfering with its contracts with players.” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has suspended greater than 30 gamers for competing in LIV Golf tournaments with out conflicting-event releases.
Eleven members of LIV Golf filed a federal antitrust lawsuit towards the tour in early August, accusing them of “using its monopoly powers to squash competition.” Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein — together with LIV Golf — are nonetheless plaintiffs within the case, whereas eight different gamers (together with six-time main champion Phil Mickelson) have since requested to be faraway from the case.
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the PGA Tour’s alleged “monopolistic actions” in coping with LIV Golf and its gamers, which the tour has denied.
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