Judge Rules That PGA Tour Can Depose LIV Golf and Its Leaders
Tiger Woods’s triumphant return to the PGA Tour was only the second-biggest story on the PGA Tour on Thursday, as some 338 miles north in San Jose, the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, made a favorable ruling for the Tour during its ongoing saga of document production in the court battle with LIV Golf.
The ruling essentially opens the file cabinets of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a main principal of PIF.
For months the PGA Tour, as part of the discovery process, has requested documents to support their counterclaim that LIV Golf, the PIF and Al-Rumayyan committed illegal interference in the PGA Tour’s business. The Tour believes documents held by these groups, and Al-Rumayyan, would go a long way toward proving their case.
Because of their ties to the Saudi government, both the PIF and Al-Rumayyan have claimed sovereign immunity that would emanate from the government of Saudi Arabia down to them, which would exempt them from producing documents.
On Thursday, a Feb. 9 ruling from Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen was made public: She rejected LIV’s arguments and ordered most of the subpoenaed documents to be handed over by LIV to the PGA Tour.
The ruling, which will likely be appealed by the PIF and Al-Rumayyan to U.S. District Court and Judge Beth Labson Freeman, sets the stage for a significant battle between the two sides. There are the contents of the documents, as well as larger ramifications for the PIF and Al-Rumayyan if they cannot use the sovereign immunity claim in future legal disputes.
In the war between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, this is the second significant ruling to come down by the court; the first landed last year when Judge Freeman ruled against a temporary restraining order (TMO) request by LIV Golf to allow certain former PGA Tour players to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The court has a management conference scheduled for Feb. 24, at 1:00 p.m. ET before Judge Freeman, where this matter will be discussed. It’s also possible it’s ultimately rescheduled sooner.
If Judge Freeman upholds the ruling from the magistrate judge, the next move for PIF and Al-Rumayyan is an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit. That move would likely take significant time and indefinitely delay the trial, which is currently scheduled for January 2024.
Both LIV Golf and the PGA Tour declined further comment to Sports Illustrated.