Judge Grants PGA’s Request To Add Defendants In Golf Antitrust Suit

This week a California judge has allowed the PGA Tour to add Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as a defendant to its countersuit against LIV Golf.

The move also allows the PGA to add the governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir Othman al Rumayyan, to its countersuit in the broader court case between the two golf tours in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Read more: PGA Tour & LIV Golf At Odds Over Saudi Ties In Subpoenas In Antitrust Case

The antitrust suit was filed against the PGA Tour last August by a group of players who had been suspended by the circuit for participating in LIV Golf events. The Tour responded with a counterclaim that LIV Golf interfered with the circuit’s existing contracts with players who joined the breakaway league and subpoenaed the PIF and Al-Rumayyan for information related to the creation of the new league and the recruitment of players.

Tuesday’s ruling by Judge Beth Labson Freeman in the Northern District of California now adds the PIF to the suit despite the fund’s argument that it’s nothing more than an investor in LIV Golf and has no control over the day-to-day operations of the breakaway league, which begins its first full season this week in Mexico.