Report: LIV Golf facing fresh $50m legal headache

LIV Golf are reportedly in a secret legal dispute with their predecessor, according to a report. 

Per The Times of London, the breakaway tour are embroiled in a disagreement with the Premier Golf League. 

It is understood officials from the PGL have instructed lawyers but so far no action has been filed in the courts. 

Nor have there been any attempts made to settle the matter through a private arbitration. 

Related:

• PGA Tour star tears (!) into Jon Rahm: "He broke an unwritten code"
• Rory McIlroy responds to whether or not he is going to LIV Golf soon

PGL reportedly want compensation of up to $50m. The dispute is said to be over intellectual property rights. 

LIV emerged in 2022 with a series of shotgun style, 54-hole events with astronomical prize purses of $25m. 

When it launched there were 12 teams of four but this has since changed to 13 to accommodate their marquee signing Jon Rahm. 

Multiple major champions such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson were among the first wave of players to sign up. 

They are being compensated handsomely by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls the entire operation. 

Scroll down...

Rahm became the league's highest-profile signing to date when he joined LIV last December for a figure said to be in the region of $500m. 

The PGL touted a similar idea to LIV as far back as 2019 but the concept was shot down by a number of leading players. 

It mirrored Greg Norman's attempts to establish a global golf tour back in the 1990s. It is widely assumed Norman is still bitter about being rejected.

When the original PGL idea was floated, it also had the backing of the aforementioned Saudi PIF.

An elite, global tour was proposed with as many as 18 events per year. The PGL also intended to place an emphasis on teams. 

In February 2020, Rory McIlroy declared of PGL's idea: "I don't like what they're proposing.

"The more I've thought about it, the more I don't like it. For me, I'm out. I don't like what their proposing."

Scroll down...

The UK-based PGL is spearheaded by Andrew Gardiner, a British former corporate finance lawyer. 

Gardiner addressed the similarities between the PGL and LIV in an interview with Today's Golfer in June 2022. 

Asked if he was angry or jealous, he told the publication: "I'm not angry at all. We see [LIV] as a testament to us because it is, for all intent and purposes, the same format that we devised."

What do you make of this story?

Send us a comment on X or join us on Facebook.

Read next:

• Ian Poulter takes dig at PGA Tour star after admitting: "I feel bad for Rory"
• WATCH: Brooks Koepka drops most relatable line ever after failed trick shot
• "Can I get a mulligan?" Anthony Kim's first tee shot on LIV Golf did not go well
• Tour pro labels LIV stars Talor Gooch and Anthony Kim 'f---ing idiots'