While the golf word is focused on the 150th playing of the Open Championship at historic St. Andrews, the ongoing feud between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf Series continues as the United States government now is getting involved.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into the PGA Tour’s handing of their players, specifically how they responded to the threat posed by the LIV Golf Series.
After just two events the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series has been a clear thorn in the side of the PGA Tour, with several long-time PGA Tour members and major champions leaving the Tour and pledging their allegiance to LIV and the guaranteed paydays.
In response, the PGA Tour has suspended players who joined LIV and has tweaked their upcoming PGA Tour schedule, while also increasing prize money.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has called LIV “an irrational threat trying to buy the game of golf, not grow it.”
He also doesn’t seem concerned about the DOJ investigation.
“This was not unexpected,” said the PGA Tour in a statement. “We went through this in 1994, and are are confident in a similar outcome.”
In 1994, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigated the PGA Tour to see if they violated American laws by requiring players to gain the PGA TOUR commissioner’s permission to play in outside events and appear in non-PGA Tour programs. The PGA Tour was fully exonerated.
The DOJ is specifically interested in how the PGA Tour’s actions will affect a player’s standing in the Official World Golf Ranking. Currently no ranking points are awarded for LIV events which will negatively affect a player’s ability to qualify for major championships and the Olympic Games, among other events.
Greg Norman, a World Golf Hall of Fame member and LIV Golf chief executive, has been very outspoken against the PGA Tour and their attempts to combat LIV.
Last February, Norman wrote Monahan a letter saying, “When you try to bluff and intimidate players by bullying and threatening them, you are guilty of going too far, being unfair and you likely are in violation of the law.”
Norman has long proposed the idea of a “world golf tour” dating back to the 1990s, with the idea of players being free agents and allowed to compete wherever and whenever they want.
The PGA Tour allows their players to receive a conflicting event release to play in three events per year, but they must be outside of North America. The LIV Golf Series has five events scheduled for North America this year, including the recently held event in Oregon. The next LIV event is July 29-31 in New Jersey.
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