Phil Mickelson may yet have to give evidence in the ongoing legal battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, despite withdrawing his name from the lawsuit.
Mickelson, Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford took their names off the antitrust lawsuit that LIV Golf filed against the PGA Tour in August, but a judge has now ruled that they are still subject to discovery in the case.
US District Court judge Susan van Keulen has ruled that the players’ agents are subject to discovery, including non-privileged information held and passed on electronically – according to an initial report by Rex Hoggard of the Golf Channel.
Judge Van Keulen found in favour of continuing discovery saying that it “applies no matter whether the responding person is a party to the litigation or a third-party subject.”
Legal representatives for Mickelson, Gooch and Swafford had been arguing that the PGA Tour’s discovery process could reveal information and communications of other clients of the agents with regards to LIV Golf.
The court agreed that information about other players should not be handed over, so ordered that the search be “designed to limit the scope of the results to materials related to their agent's representation of the players and not other potential principals.”
Interestingly, Van Keulen also ruled that DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley and the R&A could be deposed and subject to discovery, as LIV Golf claim both parties are part of the “golf ecosystem” that had been colluding against the Saudi-funded organisation.
The trial, if it eventually goes ahead, is not expected to be heard in court until 2024, as the bitter wranglings between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue to run and run. Both parties are suing each other, there are still arguments about the allocation or non-allocation of ranking points, and that’s even before the four Majors have decided upon whether they’ll allow LIV Golf players to compete.
Greg Norman’s outfit has certainly shaken up the golfing landscape, but there could be as much action in the court rooms as out on the golf course the way things are going.
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