The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the PGA Tour for possible antitrust violations related to the suspension of players from participating in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league.
The PGA Tour has been a hammer and tongs against players who signed up to play in the LIV, suspending them, canceling their memberships, and banning them from future PGA-sponsored tournaments.
These are the PGA Tour’s rules that prevent players from participating in any tournaments outside of the PGA Tour, and also require players to request permission to participate in the Tour’s unorganized events.
Critics called these rules “anti-competitive”. .
LIV spokesman Greg Norman, for example, insisted that the creation of the LIV brought “free will” to professional golf.
LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman watches the first day of the LIV Golf Invitational – Portland on June 30, 2022 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon. (Jamie Squire/LIV Golf via Getty Images)
LIV added that the federal government is expected to investigate the PGA in connection with its “illegal activities.” “There is no accepted justification for banning professional golfers just because they have a contract to play professional golf,” the organization added.
As the Department of Justice begins to review PGA practices, LIV seems wary.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland delivered a speech on the first anniversary of the passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington DC on May 20, 2022. (Chip Somodeville/Getty Images)
For its part, the PGA Tour said it wasn’t too worried about such an investigation because the federal had already reviewed its rules in 1994 and found no violations.
“It’s no surprise,” a PGA Tour spokesperson said. . “We lived in 1994 and we are sure of the same result.”
About 20 PGA pros left the PGA Tour for the LIV.
The most famous names are Greg Norman. Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Abraham Unser, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter and others.
Source: Breitbart
