According to a filing on Thursday in the U.S. Northern District Court of California, Peter Uihlein has removed his name from LIV Golf’s antitrust suit against the PGA Tour. This leaves only Bryson deChambeau, and Matt Jones, as the two remaining plaintiffs.
The lawsuit, originally filed by Phil Mickelson in August 2022, was joined by 10 other players. Since then, the case has been taken over almost exclusively by LIV Golf. This is funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which was established in 1971 to allow the Saudi Arabian Government to invest in projects and businesses, is estimated to be worth more than $650 billion.
The Tour then filed an answer against LIV. The court ruled in February that the Tour can add Al-Rumayyan and the PIF as defendants to its countersuit. This drags the financiers further into the weeds.
Over the past month, the upstart circuit suffered two major legal setbacks. First, a United Kingdom arbitral panel and then Judge Beth Labson Freeman. Judge Freeman ruled that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, as well as its Governor Yasir al-Rumayyan are both subject to depositions and discovery in the U.S. Northern District of California Court.
UPDATE Next steps for LIV in its antitrust case against PGA Tour?
On Thursday night, New York Times report claimed that the United States Department of Justice had subpoenaed records from the Trump Organization regarding the former President Donald Trump’s ties with LIV Golf.
LIV returns to action with LIV Tulsa, which will take place at Cedar Ridge Country Club, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma from May 12-14. Uihlein currently sits second in LIV Golf’s season-long point race, thanks to his runner-up performance at LIV Golf Canakoba during the season’s opener.
