PGA Tour files lawsuit against LIV’s Saudi backers

The legal wrangling between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf escalated Friday in a U.S. District Court with the Tour filing a lawsuit against the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF which is financing LIV Golf.

The lawsuit to compel was filed in the Southern District of New York under seal and included 107 exhibits and motions. According to various sources, the lawsuit is aimed at compelling Al-Rumayyan to be deposed by Tour attorneys as well as subject the PIF, which has estimated assets of $620 billion, to discovery of documents.

The lawsuit is born from an antitrust case that was filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California in August by a group of players who had joined LIV and had subsequently been suspended by the Tour. The lawsuit – which includes Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein, as well as LIV Golf as plaintiffs – is set for trial in January 2024.

Last month, the Tour filed a countersuit in the antitrust case claiming that LIV Golf had interfered with the circuit’s contracts with players. LIV Golf has denied those claims.