Cam Smith is excited about starting a new chapter in his career, but he is frustrated by other players. There is a time and a place for this.
The Saudi Arabian-financed golf circuit interfered with existing contracts of the PGA Tour's members, according to the countersuit filed by the tour.
The counterclaim was filed as part of the PGA Tour's response to LIV Golf's federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, in which LIV Golf claims the tour unfairly suspended players for competing in its tournaments and is wielding its monopoly power to squash competition.
The tour claims that LIV Golf has executed a campaign to pay its players "astronomical sums of money to induce them to breach their contracts with the Tour in an effort to use the LIV Players and the game of golf to sportswash the recent history of Saudi atrocities.
The LIV Golf officials have advised players that their agreements with the PGA Tour are not valid, while entering into their own agreements with LIV players that impose more stringent restrictions on the players than any of the Tour regulations they challenge.
The motion included a text message that Greg Norman supposedly sent to Spain'sSergioGarcia, in which he wrote "They cannot ban you for one day let alone life" It is not a big deal. You can ask them to write to you. I'm pretty sure they don't. Happy for anyone to speak with our legal team to understand that they have no chance of succeeding.
The PGA Tour claims that its Player Handbook and Tournament Regulations, which allowed it to suspend more than two dozen members, contributes to its success and to generating higher sponsorship and broadcast revenues, which result in increased prize money and benefits for its players.
"After inducing the remaining Player Plaintiffs to violate those same regulations with hundreds of millions of dollars in Saudi money, the court should invalidate these wholly legitimate provisions with the stroke of a pen," the motion said. Eight of the original eleven players have withdrawn their names from the lawsuit, and the Player Plaintiffs want only to enrich themselves in complete disregard of the promises they made to the Tour and its members when they joined.
Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson and three other players are asking a judge to remove them from the antitrust case. The four other players who were involved in the lawsuit are no longer involved.
Three people remain in the case, along with a golf club.
The Tour has made these counterclaims in a transparent effort to divert attention from their anti-competitive conduct, which LIV and the players detail in their 104-page complaint. The justice system will correct these wrongs.
The US Department of Justice has begun an investigation into the actions of the PGA Tour in dealing with LIV Golf and its players.
The motion argued that there was no actual injury to the people. "LIV has succeeded in attracting many elite professional golfers to participate in its new league." There are many events with full fields that LIV has held. The Player Plaintiffs were made whole by the financial cost of their suspensions being baked into LIV's signing bonus. While the Tour's media rights and conflicting events are anticompetitive, LIV imposes similar conditions on its players, and the Player Plaintiffs have agreed to them.
If anyone is competing unfairly, it's not the Tour. The Tour's investment in the development of professional golf is the reason why it is cynical to avoid competition. The allegations are baseless.
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