LIV Golf and the PGA Tour continue their legal battle. On Monday, some surprising revelations will be made.
Sports Illustrated states that the PGA Tour was required to answer the Interrogatory No. 1 question. 1.
“Identify all individuals who communicated for the PGA Tour with other persons (including Tour Members) or entities regarding any New Tour. You should respond to (a) Augusta National Golf Club, (b) PGA of America, e) OWGR and (f) Royal & Ancient Golf Course, (g) Asia Tour,(h) Sunshine Tour), (j) Ladies Professional Golf Association (k) Ladies European Tour), (l) any broadcaster or sponsor, n) any player agent, representative, or advertiser, or (o) any other person, entity, or person not specifically excluded by this Interrogatory. Communications with the PGA Tour’s counsel and the media are not required. You must identify each person you identify. ), and the other person/entity to whom the communication was made .”
Judge Susan van Keulen ruled last week that the PGA Tour must release the complete list of players, sponsors, broadcasters, and former players.
After much back and forth over the effort required by the PGA Tour for the list to be provided, Judge Van Keulen issued a ruling on October 19, which read:
“By 12 p.m. PDT on October 19, 2022, the Defendant Tour will identify in a verified Interrogatory Response all individuals authorized to speak for the Tour during the relevant period (September 1, 2019-present; the “Time Period”) concerning competitive or potentially lucrative tours. The interrogatory reply will show which individuals received verbal and written communications about competitive or potentially-competitive tours during the Time Period em>.
On October 20, the PGA Tour received a response from people who had spoken to it about LIV Golf. It included 31 PGA Tour employees, 179 entities, and big TV Networks such as Apple, Netflix, and Amazon. They also disclosed 22 sponsors, 27 vendors and 28 agents, as well as 71 players that they had spoken to about LIV Golf.
The most interesting of all the PGA Tour’s guests is Anthony Kim.
Kim was a star who won three PGA Tour events, and also participated in a Ryder Cup as well as a Presidents Cup for America. He hasn’t been in a PGA Tour event for over a decade, but he’s still a popular figure due to his talent and potential. According to some reports, he had an insurance policy that would have paid him $10-20,000,000 in case of a career-ending accident.
LIV Golf was unhappy with the list and felt that the 179 names provided by the PGA Tour were too small.
The court proceedings will continue this week. We will have more information regarding “question 1” as the case develops.
