Report: LIV Golf ‘in legal battle’ over format

LIV Golf has reportedly found itself involved in an eight-figure legal dispute with a proposed golf tour.

Greg Norman’s Saudi-backed startup is disputing the idea of a limited field, 54-hole, no cut format with its predecessor Premier Golf League (PGL).

According to the Times, the secret legal battle could be settled for a figure well in excess of £10 million.

LIV, the breakaway league that was launched in 2022 and is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), emerged after a similar concept was flirted with.

The UK-based Premier Golf League (PGL), spearheaded by Andrew Gardiner, a British former corporate finance lawyer, had also aimed to launch in 2022 with a £183 million total prize fund.

Incorporated in 2019 and backed by Raine Capital, PGL was considered a significant threat to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour as it tried to lure high-profile stars to the concept of shotgun starts.

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Gardiner stated in 2020 that the league would have 48 players who would compete in 18 events for purses of £7.5 million per tournament.

As LIV Golf has established, plans for PGL were heavily centred around a team basis, with 12 teams, comprising four players, that would also contest a £10.7 million season-ending championship.

The Times also reported that PGL instructed lawyers, although the dispute has not been filed in the courts and attempts have been made to avoid private arbitration.

Meanwhile, it wrote that multiple sources have claimed PGL were initially seeking compensation in the ballpark of around £50 million.

The project was first pitched to Rory McIlroy in 2014, with the Northern Irishman strongly rejecting the revolution in 2020.

In the same year, the DP World Tour entered into a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour after rejecting an approach following five months of deliberation.

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Then in 2021, LIV Golf Enterprises was launched, as Golf Saudi, a subsidiary of the PIF, decided to fund the new entity, in a bid to disrupt the men’s professional game.

Two-time major champion Norman was named as the league’s chief executive and commissioner and has since extended LIV to 13 teams.

As part of Jon Rahm’s shock move in December, the Spaniard was handed the keys to his own franchise, Legion XIII.

LIV Golf has now signed the likes of Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk. However, none have drawn the eye more than this week’s debutant Anthony Kim.

The Ryder Cup winner returns to Jeddah to compete in his first professional event since 2012.