The dispute between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series now has the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the PGA Tour said Monday it was confident it would prevail.
“This was not unexpected,” the tour said in a statement.
The Journal said players’ agents have received inquiries from the Justice Department’s antitrust division that involve PGA Tour regulations on competing events and the tour suspending players in recent months for playing in LIV Golf events. The Journal cited a person familiar with the inquiries.
The Justice Department had no comment.
The new series is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and already has attracted nearly two dozen PGA Tour members, a list that includes Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. All reportedly have received signing fees of $150 million or more. For Johnson, that would be twice as much as his career earnings in his 15 years on the PGA Tour.