The PGA Tour filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and the organization's governor, Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, according to court records obtained by ESPN. Placed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, the PGA Tour's complaint included 50 exhibits and a motion to compel.
If obtained, this motion from a federal judge would force Al-Rumayyan to be deposed as part of the initial federal lawsuit between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf in California. The Saudi Arabia PIF would be required to release documents to the PGA Tour's attorneys through discovery as a result.
The filing is the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the legal battles between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The PGA Tour filed a countersuit against LIV Golf in September claiming that by offering "astronomical sums of money" to golfers signed to the PGA Tour, LIV Golf spurred players to breach their contracts.
Eleven players from LIV Golf had previously filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court against the PGA Tour claiming the tour was utilizing its position as a monopoly to expel competition. The number of plaintiffs in the case has slowly dwindled, however, as Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein (as well as LIV Golf) are the only ones remaining. Phil Mickelson was part of the remaining eight golfers who asked to be excluded.
The Saudi Arabia PIF is the entity which is responsible for financing LIV Golf and holds investments with a number of other business ventures in the United States including Alphabet, Microsoft, JP Morgan and BlackRock. The fund currently possesses roughly $620 billion assets under management and is key to Saudi Arabia's plans to diversify revenues from oil and reshape its economy.
