The first legal battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour will commence on Tuesday with a legal hearing where three LIV golfers will present their case in a lawsuit pertaining to their eligibility for the FedExCup.
FedExCup are three end-of-the-year PGA Tournaments featuring the top 125 golfers based on their world rankings. Each event field shrinks progressively with only the top 30 competing in the final tournament.
Americans Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford and Australian Matt Jones have managed to qualify for the FedExCup based on their PGA rankings but jumped ship to the rival LIV Golf.
PGA, in response, introduced a new ranking system barring the LIV defectors from participating in the tournament, a move these three golfers have challenged in court.
US District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman will now conduct a hearing on their lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
Gooch, Jones, and Swafford were among 11 players from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series who filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the US PGA Tour referring to the governing body as a monopoly trying to stifle the upstart group, which has managed to lure away a bevy of established names and major winners with record contracts and prize money purses.
The PGA Tour has dealt with the defection issue with an iron hand, issuing indefinite suspensions to all current former members who have participated in any of the three LIV Golf events contested so far.
All three will be hoping for a swift resolution to their issue as the first FedExCup Tournament gets underway next week in Memphis.
