The PGA Tour is ramping up the legal battle against LIV Golf, according to reports. On Monday, the Tour sought out a federal judge to add Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, as defendants to its countersuit against LIV Golf.
The motion was filed in the Federal District Court in San Jose, the same place that LIV Golf initially filed the antitrust lawsuit against the Tour last August.
Augusta National was named in the original lawsuit, along with the PGA Tour, USGA and PGA of America. However, the club will allow players to play at the 2023 Masters in April.
PGA Tour Looks To Add Saudi Wealth Fund and Governor to Countersuit
In the motion filed to the U.S District Court in Northern California, the PGA Tour challenged the court with new documents from LIV Golf, confirming that the Private Investment Fund and Al-Rumayyan were instrumental in causing golfers to breach their PGA Tour contracts.
“As set forth in the existing counterclaim, LIV intentionally and knowingly caused these players to breach their contractual obligations to the TOUR by mispresenting TOUR contracts; inducing these breaches by offering highly lucrative contracts that make it impossible for players to comply with their TOUR contracts; and providing extensive indemnification and hundreds of millions of dollars to compensate LIV players for these breaches,” PGA Tour attorneys wrote in the motion. “Recently produced documents confirm that PIF and Mr. Al-Rumayyan played an active and central role in orchestrating these breaches for their own benefit and are equally liable for the harm caused to the TOUR.”
Lawsuit Alleges Al-Rumayyan Is The Mastermind Behind LIV Golf
The countersuit also alleges that LIV Golf had an end plan known as Project Wedgem, which was a “long-contrived plan” to take over professional golf.
The motion goes on to name Al-Rumayyan as the mastermind behind Golf Saudi and LIV Golf projects and that he played an active role in personally recruiting players while knowing the deals would interfere with the player’s tour contracts.
It’s believed that Al-Rumayyan and Majed Al Sorour are the two people who have the final say over LIV Golf. Al-Rumayan is a part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle.
While Greg Norman has been the public face of LIV Golf, Al-Rumayyan looked to use LIV Golf as a way to diversify the economy and diminish Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil.
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