LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour Lawsuit: Antitrust Claims and Dismissal

The LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour lawsuit was a federal antitrust case filed in August 2022 by eleven LIV-affiliated golfers, later joined by LIV Golf itself, accusing the PGA Tour of using monopoly power to crush a rival circuit through suspensions, exclusive media-rights rules, and a coordinated industry boycott. The case was dismissed with prejudice in June 2023, ten days after the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund stunned the sports world by announcing a framework agreement to combine their commercial operations.¹

Who Sued Whom

On August 3, 2022, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and nine other golfers who had left for the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit filed suit against the PGA Tour in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Beth Labson Freeman was assigned the case, docketed as 5:22-cv-04486.² LIV Golf later joined as a plaintiff.

The dispute had been building for months. LIV Golf launched in 2022 with backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and lured stars away from the Tour with guaranteed contracts reportedly worth more than $100 million for players like DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, and Mickelson.³ Before LIV’s first event that June, the Tour warned that any member playing without authorization would be suspended. Commissioner Jay Monahan followed through and denied requests for reinstatement.⁴

The Antitrust Claims

The complaint alleged violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The theory: the PGA Tour operated as both a monopoly over elite professional golf and a monopsony as the sole buyer of top golfers’ services, and it used that dominance to block a legitimate competitor.⁵

Four specific grievances anchored the complaint. First, media-rights exclusivity. Tour players were required to sign annual affidavits surrendering their exclusive media rights to the Tour, which generates over $600 million annually in broadcast revenue. Plaintiffs argued this locked players in and starved competing leagues of access to elite talent.⁶

Second, conflicting-event restrictions. Tour rules barred players from competing in non-Tour events in North America during weeks when the PGA hosted tournaments, effectively fencing off the calendar.⁵

Third, a group boycott. The plaintiffs claimed the Tour pressured the European Tour, major championship organizers, vendors, and sponsors to cut ties with LIV and its players, amounting to an industry-wide coordinated shutout.⁵

Fourth, retaliatory suspensions. The complaint characterized the Tour’s suspensions and threats of lifetime bans as punishment for exercising their rights as independent contractors.⁷

The PGA Tour’s Defense and Countersuit

The Tour argued its membership model was an exclusive services arrangement, that players had voluntarily agreed to its rules, and that antitrust law did not require it to help a competitor. In the Tour’s telling, LIV was asking suspended members to freeride on the Tour’s investment and brand while pocketing guaranteed salaries elsewhere.⁶

The Tour also went on offense. It filed a counterclaim alleging tortious interference with contracts, claiming LIV had “intentionally and knowingly caused” players to breach their Tour agreements through enormous signing bonuses.⁸ In January 2023, the Tour moved to add the PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, as counter-defendants, alleging they played a “central role in orchestrating these breaches” by personally approving player contracts, recruiting talent, and indemnifying players against consequences.⁹

That triggered one of the case’s most legally consequential rulings. The PIF argued it was shielded by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act as an arm of the Saudi government, and Al-Rumayyan, a Saudi government minister as well as PIF governor, claimed personal diplomatic immunity. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen rejected both arguments in a 58-page ruling in February 2023, finding the PIF’s LIV involvement fell within the FSIA’s commercial activity exception. She wrote that “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.” She ordered the fund to produce 25 categories of documents and ruled that Al-Rumayyan and other PIF employees had to sit for depositions.¹⁰ Judge Freeman then granted the Tour’s motion to formally add the PIF and Al-Rumayyan as counter-defendants.¹¹

The Restraining Order That Set the Tone

Three plaintiffs — Talor Gooch, Matt Jones, and Hudson Swafford — filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order so they could compete in the Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.⁷ Judge Freeman denied it on August 11, 2022. She found the players had not shown irreparable harm, pointing to their LIV contracts and noting that “the evidence shows almost without a doubt that they will be earning significantly more money with LIV Golf than they could reasonably have expected to make through TOUR play.” Citing the players’ own public praise of LIV, she asked: “If LIV Golf is elite golf’s future, what do TRO Plaintiffs care about the dust-collecting trophies of a bygone era?” She acknowledged the antitrust claims were “facially appealing” but said they had “fundamental flaws” warranting a full trial rather than emergency intervention.¹²

Why the Players Dropped Out

The eleven original plaintiffs peeled off in waves. On September 27, 2022, Mickelson, Gooch, Ian Poulter, and Swafford filed notices of voluntary dismissal. Mickelson said he was “extremely happy being a part of LIV” and trusted the league to carry the fight; Poulter said he had “faith LIV will successfully make the legal case.”¹³ Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Pat Perez, and Jason Kokrak had already quietly left.¹⁴

By May 2023, no golfers were left. Peter Uihlein withdrew early that month. On May 18, DeChambeau and Jones filed voluntary dismissals with prejudice, permanently giving up the right to refile. A joint filing confirmed: “All of the former player plaintiffs have dismissed their claims… This is now only a case between two competing golf leagues.”¹⁵

The Framework Agreement and Case Dismissal

On June 6, 2023, the PGA Tour announced a framework agreement to combine its commercial operations with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour under a new for-profit entity, with the PIF as a major investor. The five-page agreement, signed on May 30, 2023, named Monahan as CEO and Al-Rumayyan as chairman. The PGA Tour would keep a controlling voting interest regardless of PIF investment size.¹⁶

Ten days later, on June 16, 2023, the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice. The Tour dropped its counterclaim against the PIF, and the fund agreed to dismiss its appeal of the sovereign-immunity ruling.¹ The case was formally terminated on November 14, 2023.² The antitrust claims never went to trial and no court ruled on their merits.

What Happened After the Case Ended

The deal that killed the lawsuit never closed. The framework set a December 31, 2023, deadline for definitive terms, and it passed without an agreement.¹⁷ Talks between the Tour and PIF stalled, and the promised merger never materialized.¹⁸

The Tour moved on alone. In early 2024, it announced a partnership with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of American sports team owners led by Fenway Sports Group, which committed up to $3 billion, with $1.5 billion initially invested in a new for-profit arm called PGA Tour Enterprises. Players became equity holders in the entity.¹⁹

LIV Golf, meanwhile, ran out of runway. On April 29, 2026, the PIF notified LIV that it would stop funding the league at the end of the 2026 season, saying the investment was “no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF’s investment strategy.” Al-Rumayyan resigned as LIV’s board chairman the same day.¹⁸ The PIF had reportedly put nearly $6 billion into LIV over five seasons, and the league began preparing for a possible Chapter 11 filing in the United States, which executives called a last resort.²⁰

Some of the players who had originally sued began returning to the PGA Tour through a Returning Member Program for elite golfers who had been away at least two years and won a major or The Players Championship within the previous four seasons.²¹ Brooks Koepka was reinstated in January 2026 on terms that included a $5 million charitable donation and five years of ineligibility for the Player Equity Program.²² Patrick Reed, Hudson Swafford, Kevin Na, and Pat Perez also came back, with Perez serving a disciplinary period before becoming eligible to compete again on January 1, 2027.²³ Jon Rahm, who signed a LIV contract reportedly worth more than $100 million, said he had multiple years remaining and did not “see many ways out” of it.³

1
Front Office Sports. LIV Golf, PGA Tour Seek Dismissal of Federal Antitrust Case
2
CourtListener. Jones v. PGA Tour, Inc.
3
ESPN. LIV Golf Pitch New Business Model Amid Bankruptcy Report
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WHYY. Mickelson, Others Sue PGA Tour Over LIV Golf Suspensions
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Fordham JCFL. Get Off My Green: LIV Golf’s Antitrust Claim Against PGA Tour Explained
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Golf.com. Media Rights Center LIV PGA Tour Lawsuit
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CNN. LIV Golfers Sue PGA Tour
8
ABC News. PGA Tour Seeks to Add Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to Lawsuit
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Golf.com. PGA Tour Lawsuit LIV Golf Yasir Al-Rumayyan
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Golf Channel. Judge Dismisses Saudi Arabia’s Claim of Sovereign Immunity
11
ESPN. PGA Tour to Add Saudi Fund to LIV Countersuit, Judge Rules
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ABC News. Judge Rules LIV Golfers Failed to Show Harm From PGA Tour
13
ESPN. Phil Mickelson, Three Other Golfers Ask to Be Dismissed as Plaintiffs in LIV Golf Lawsuit
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ABC News. Phil Mickelson, Golfers Dismissed as Plaintiffs in LIV Golf’s Lawsuit
15
Sportico. LIV Golf PGA Tour Lawsuit: No Golfers Left
16
ESPN. Framework Agreement Spells Out PGA Tour-PIF Alliance
17
New York Times (document). Framework Agreement
18
CBS Sports. Saudi Arabia LIV Golf Funding
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Golf Digest. PGA Tour Fenway Strategic Sports Agreement
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New York Post. LIV Golf Preparing to File for Bankruptcy in the U.S.
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Sky Sports. Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour Return Explained
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CBS Sports. Brooks Koepka Reinstated Under PGA Tour Returning Member Program
23
Golf.com. Pat Perez PGA Tour Suspension Return