Peter Uihlein removed his name from LIV Golf’s antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, according to a Thursday filing in the U.S. Northern District of California, leaving just Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Jones as the final two player plaintiffs.
The original lawsuit was filed in August of 2022 by Phil Mickelson and went on to include 10 other players, but has since been taken over by LIV Golf, which is almost exclusively financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The wealth fund, organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.
The Tour then filed a countersuit against LIV. In February, the court ruled the Tour could add the PIF and Al-Rumayyan as defendants in its countersuit, dragging the financiers deeper into the judicial weeds.
The upstart circuit has suffered a pair of major legal setbacks over the last month, first via a United Kingdom arbitration panel, and second via Judge Beth Labson Freeman. Judge Freeman ruled in the U.S. Northern District of California court that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund – as well as its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan were both subject to discovery and depositions.
UPDATE: What’s next for LIV’s antitrust case against the PGA Tour?
On Thursday evening, a New York Times report also claimed the United States Department of Justice has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for records regarding former President Donald Trump’s ties to LIV Golf.
LIV will be back in action next week with LIV Golf Tulsa at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, May 12-14. Uihlein is currently second in LIV Golf’s season-long points race thanks to a runner-up finish at LIV Golf Mayakoba in the season opener.
