Court allows the PGA Tour to directly sue LIV Golf’s Saudi backers
A lawsuit initially brought by players against golf’s biggest touring body is now pitting the PGA Tour directly against the wealth of Saudi Arabia
Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman shares his thoughts on being told not to attend a PGA tour event that he founded on ‘Fox Business Tonight.’
Since the beginning of the high-profile legal wranglings between the PGA Tour and its rival LIV Golf last year, the Tour has consistently angled to place LIV’s backing from Saudi Arabia at the center of the feud.
Now, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has granted one of the PGA Tour’s chief goals. A ruling issued late Tuesday will allow the Tour to add Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s financial backer, and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as defendants in its lawsuit against LIV.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled that the Tour had met the factors required to amend its claim, in part, she said, because the Tour had access to more information about the fund’s involvement in the golf circuit than it had had at the outset of the legal battle.
Greg Norman, CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, watches play on the driving range during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational - Portland at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club on July 02, 2022 in North Plains, Oregon. (Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Her decision now formalizes the reality that a lawsuit initially brought by LIV players against golf’s biggest touring body is now pitting the PGA Tour directly against the wealth of Saudi Arabia.
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A LIV spokeswoman declined to comment. LIV had said in court that adding PIF and Al-Rumayyan as defendants would be "dragging in parties subject to complex sovereign immunity and jurisdictional defenses based on meritless allegations."
The legal action began last summer when Phil Mickelson and 10 other golfers who bolted for LIV sued the Tour, arguing it had behaved as a monopolist in barring them from Tour events. The Tour quickly countersued LIV, arguing it had interfered with its business deals. By winter, most of those golfers had dropped out, including Mickelson, LIV had added itself as a plaintiff in suing the Tour, and LIV’s financial backers were being pulled into the center of the battle.
Phil Mickelson of United States of America tees off on the eighth hole during Day One of the LIV Golf Invitational - Bangkok at Stonehill Golf Course on October 07, 2022 in Pathum Thani, Thailand. (Photo by Peter Van der Klooster/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Earlier this month, a magistrate judge in the Northern District of California ruled that PIF and Al-Rumayyan would have to turn over documents as part of the proceedings, rejecting arguments that as representatives of a foreign government, they were entitled to sovereign immunity. They were ordered to sit for depositions and produce documents, creating an extraordinary situation in which the business dealings of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund could be made public in a U.S. court.
This latest ruling ensures that they will remain locked into the fight.
LIV’s launch last year upended what had been a sleepy industry. With record-breaking prize funds and lucrative appearance fees, LIV lured a bevy of the biggest names in the sport such as Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. Those golfers who left were suspended by the PGA Tour for violating their contracts, and some simply resigned their memberships.
Greg Norman, CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, signs autographs during day three of the LIV Golf Invitational - Portland at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club on July 02, 2022 in North Plains, Oregon. (Charles Laberge/LIV Golf via Getty Images / Getty Images)
From the get-go, LIV faced criticism that it was merely an exercise in sportswashing, or using the game of golf and popular players to help paper over Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights. LIV has repeatedly denied those claims and said its goal is to grow the sport globally with an exciting new format.
The two sides have sparred in court over PIF’s connections to the day-to-day operations of the LIV Golf circuit. Lawyers representing the Tour said that the sovereign-wealth fund owns 93% of the circuit, that the fund founded LIV under Al-Rumayyan’s instructions, and assumes all financial risk to the project because it is funding 100% of it. Al-Rumayyan has been a visible presence at LIV tournaments, including at former president Donald Trump’s course in Bedminster, N.J. where he played a practice round with Trump and star golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
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Lawyers for the sovereign-wealth fund and Al-Rumayyan had said LIV and PIF were separate entities, and that the examples cited by the Tour’s lawyers as proof of Al-Rumayyan’s close involvement were merely those of a typical investor.
Those arguments were rejected by magistrate judge Susan Van Keulen in the discovery dispute, who ruled: "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."