Report: DOJ inquiring about antitrust in PGA-LIV dispute
DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
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The dispute between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series now has the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the PGA Tour said Monday it was confident it would prevail.
“This was not unexpected,” the tour said in a statement.
The Journal said players’ agents have received inquiries from the Justice Department’s antitrust division that involve PGA Tour regulations on competing events and the tour suspending players in recent months for playing in LIV Golf events. The Journal cited a person familiar with the inquiries.
The Justice Department had no comment.
The new series is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and already has attracted nearly two dozen PGA Tour members, a list that includes Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. All reportedly have received signing fees of $150 million or more. For Johnson, that would be twice as much as his career earnings in his 15 years on the PGA Tour.
At issue is the PGA Tour’s policy that members receive a conflicting event release to play tournaments overseas when a tour event is being held that week. Players typically get three such releases a year, only for overseas events. The tour does not allow releases for tournaments held in North America.
It denied releases for the first LIV Golf event, which was held outside London the first week in June, because it viewed it as a series of tournaments that threatened the PGA Tour. The LIV events offer $25 million in prize money and its eight-tournament schedule features five events in the United States. Two are at courses owned by former President Donald Trump.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan suspended players who competed in the first LIV event and the most recent one outside Portland, Oregon. The next LIV event is scheduled for Trump National in New Jersey in two weeks.
Some players, such as Johnson and Sergio Garcia, have resigned their PGA Tour membership. Mickelson has not. He is a lifetime member because of his 45 career victories, and Mickelson has said he earned that status.
Greg Norman, the two-time British Open champion who is CEO of LIV Golf, said two months ago when the tour denied releases that “the PGA Tour seems intent on denying professional golfers their right to play golf, unless it’s exclusively in a PGA Tour tournament.” He called the decision “anti-golfer, anti-fan and anti-competitive.”
The tour referenced a Federal Trade Commission investigation from two decades ago in saying in its statement, “We went through this in 1994 and we are confident in a similar outcome.”
That four-year investigation resulted in an FTC recommendation that two rules be nullified — competing in non-PGA Tour events without the commissioner’s permission and allowing veto power over players appearing on televised golf programs. Under heavy lobbying, the FTC voted 4-0 to end the investigation by rejecting the recommendation from the staff’s antitrust lawyers.
The report comes at the start of the British Open at St. Andrews, another example of how much the rival league has disrupted golf this year. Players who signed on with Norman’s group have been criticized for the source of the funding, and players like Mickelson and Johnson have lost corporate sponsorships.
Four players on the European tour last week were given a temporary stay from being suspended, allowing them to compete in the Scottish Open.
Steven Paston
The root of most of the controversy surrounding this PGA Tour alternative is the source of the financial backing.
LIV Golf Investments is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. It has pledged more than $2 billion through 2025, an amount that includes tournament operations, prize money and other efforts to entice high-end golfers. Roughly $400 million has been pledged for the inaugural season, with more than a quarter billion earmarked strictly for prize money.
Most consider this a form of “sportswashing” — akin to what Qatar has done with the World Cup and what Russia did with past Olympic Games — when countries with poor reputations try to repair them, or divert attention away from it, through sports.
Steven Paston
The root of most of the controversy surrounding this PGA Tour alternative is the source of the financial backing.
LIV Golf Investments is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. It has pledged more than $2 billion through 2025, an amount that includes tournament operations, prize money and other efforts to entice high-end golfers. Roughly $400 million has been pledged for the inaugural season, with more than a quarter billion earmarked strictly for prize money.
Most consider this a form of “sportswashing” — akin to what Qatar has done with the World Cup and what Russia did with past Olympic Games — when countries with poor reputations try to repair them, or divert attention away from it, through sports.
Tiger Woods has spent more weeks at No. 1 in the world than any other golfer, active or retired. No. 2 on that list belongs to Greg Norman, the eccentric 67-year old Australian who has served as the public face of LIV Golf, at least among non-competitors.
Norman has not been shy about going toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan, calling them “monopolists” and saying LIV Golf is entering the golf space to better serve professional golfers, who aren’t given ample opportunities via the PGA Tour.
This is not Norman’s first attempt and going toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour, either. Almost 30 years ago, he tried to set up a super league that would consist of smaller, 40-player fields that would compete for massive purses. The concept, which he called the World Golf Tour, was so far along that he had secured a 10-year, $250 million commitment from Fox for broadcast rights.
That league never got off the ground, though, as then-PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem convinced members of the tour to stick with the PGA. He later started up the World Golf Championship, which still exists to this day, and runs as part of the PGA Tour calendar.
Phelan M. Ebenhack
Tiger Woods has spent more weeks at No. 1 in the world than any other golfer, active or retired. No. 2 on that list belongs to Greg Norman, the eccentric 67-year old Australian who has served as the public face of LIV Golf, at least among non-competitors.
Norman has not been shy about going toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan, calling them “monopolists” and saying LIV Golf is entering the golf space to better serve professional golfers, who aren’t given ample opportunities via the PGA Tour.
This is not Norman’s first attempt and going toe-to-toe with the PGA Tour, either. Almost 30 years ago, he tried to set up a super league that would consist of smaller, 40-player fields that would compete for massive purses. The concept, which he called the World Golf Tour, was so far along that he had secured a 10-year, $250 million commitment from Fox for broadcast rights.
That league never got off the ground, though, as then-PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem convinced members of the tour to stick with the PGA. He later started up the World Golf Championship, which still exists to this day, and runs as part of the PGA Tour calendar.
A major part of the recent LIV Golf buzz is the number of big-name commitments Norman has secured as it inches closer to its debut. The two biggest names on the marquee: Phil Mickelson, whose flirtation with LIV Golf was very public and controversial, and ultimately led to him stepping away from the public limelight for multiple months after comments made about the Saudis, and Dustin Johnson, one of the most successful players on the PGA Tour.
Johnson, who reportedly received more than $100 million to jump ship to LIV, resigned from the PGA Tour on Tuesday. RBC, his top sponsor, has already dropped him.
Mickelson signed a contract worth approximately $200 million, according to the Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. Both players intend to play in major championships, though that decision will ultimately be made by tournament organizers themselves.
Other notable names on board include past major winners Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer, past World No. 1 Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup fixture Ian Poulter. All eight of the aforementioned players will be in the field for its first event, scheduled to start Thursday in London.
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images North America/TNS
A major part of the recent LIV Golf buzz is the number of big-name commitments Norman has secured as it inches closer to its debut. The two biggest names on the marquee: Phil Mickelson, whose flirtation with LIV Golf was very public and controversial, and ultimately led to him stepping away from the public limelight for multiple months after comments made about the Saudis, and Dustin Johnson, one of the most successful players on the PGA Tour.
Johnson, who reportedly received more than $100 million to jump ship to LIV, resigned from the PGA Tour on Tuesday. RBC, his top sponsor, has already dropped him.
Mickelson signed a contract worth approximately $200 million, according to the Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. Both players intend to play in major championships, though that decision will ultimately be made by tournament organizers themselves.
Other notable names on board include past major winners Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Martin Kaymer, past World No. 1 Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup fixture Ian Poulter. All eight of the aforementioned players will be in the field for its first event, scheduled to start Thursday in London.
LIV Golf landed a few big fish, but it also encountered a lot of public rejection. Johnson (currently No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings), is the only top-20 player to shun the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. And the 37-year-old Johnson fits the profile of most who have been willing to make the jump: players whose golf prime is in their rear view mirrors.
Members of the PGA Tour have confirmed that just about everyone was approached to join LIV, but the vast majority rejected those overtures. Some were more outspoken than others, including Rory McIlroy, who called LIV “dead in the water” before it ever started.
It wasn’t just active 20-somethings turning down LIV. The two golfers who most frequently find themselves in discussion for golf’s GOAT were also heavily courted.
Eighteen-time major winner Nicklaus recently told reporters he was offered more than $100 million to be the public face of LIV. That’s a big number, but apparently not even close to what Norman called a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer made to Tiger Woods, which was “high nine digits.”
Sue Ogrocki
LIV Golf landed a few big fish, but it also encountered a lot of public rejection. Johnson (currently No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings), is the only top-20 player to shun the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. And the 37-year-old Johnson fits the profile of most who have been willing to make the jump: players whose golf prime is in their rear view mirrors.
Members of the PGA Tour have confirmed that just about everyone was approached to join LIV, but the vast majority rejected those overtures. Some were more outspoken than others, including Rory McIlroy, who called LIV “dead in the water” before it ever started.
It wasn’t just active 20-somethings turning down LIV. The two golfers who most frequently find themselves in discussion for golf’s GOAT were also heavily courted.
Eighteen-time major winner Nicklaus recently told reporters he was offered more than $100 million to be the public face of LIV. That’s a big number, but apparently not even close to what Norman called a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer made to Tiger Woods, which was “high nine digits.”
Smaller field sizes aren’t the only noticeable changes for LIV in comparison to the PGA Tour. Events will span over three days rather than four, meaning that will be 54 holes of competition instead of 72. The 54 is the inspiration for the tour’s name, which uses the L I V roman numerals to equal 54.
LIV events will not have cuts, and every participant will receive prize money. That’s not the case for the PGA Tour, where players who miss the cut do not receive any winnings. Players will compete for much larger purses, too. Each regular season event will have a $25 million purse, with at least $4 million guaranteed to each winner.
There will be team elements to the tour, too, with player-led drafts and a season-ending team championship worth $50 million.
Events will be streamed via Facebook and YouTube.
Denis Poroy
Smaller field sizes aren’t the only noticeable changes for LIV in comparison to the PGA Tour. Events will span over three days rather than four, meaning that will be 54 holes of competition instead of 72. The 54 is the inspiration for the tour’s name, which uses the L I V roman numerals to equal 54.
LIV events will not have cuts, and every participant will receive prize money. That’s not the case for the PGA Tour, where players who miss the cut do not receive any winnings. Players will compete for much larger purses, too. Each regular season event will have a $25 million purse, with at least $4 million guaranteed to each winner.
There will be team elements to the tour, too, with player-led drafts and a season-ending team championship worth $50 million.
Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, tosses a beer to spectators into the crowd surrounding the 18th green at the Portland Invitational LIV Golf tournament in North Plains, Ore., Saturday, July 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Dipaola)
Steve Dipaola
Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, tosses a beer to spectators into the crowd surrounding the 18th green at the Portland Invitational LIV Golf tournament in North Plains, Ore., Saturday, July 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Dipaola)
