LIV Golf has accused the DP World Tour of a “clear attempt to interfere” with its restructuring process, after the European Tour said it would refuse membership to anyone playing on the breakaway tour next season.
At a court hearing on Wednesday, the lawyer representing LIV said the organization was “very concerned” about the stance taken by rival DP World Tour.
Rob Fitzgerald of Gibson Dunn, the attorney representing LIV, also said the organization would know by the end of the month whether it could continue in a “LIV 2.0” form.
“We continue to monitor this situation very closely and we are frankly very concerned about it,” Fitzgerald said of the DP World Tour’s position.
“The timing in particular appears to us to be a clear attempt to interfere with our process with our players and potentially our wider reorganization.
“It also raises many of the same anti-competitive concerns that LIV has previously expressed regarding the manner in which competing leagues have sought to prevent and punish market participants, namely these players, from participating in LIV and in reality only LIV.”
DP World Tour declined to comment on Fitzgerald’s statement, but Guy Kinnings, its CEO, told BBC Sport on Monday that “players have to make a choice”, reinforcing the organisation’s policy regarding play on all tours.
In previous years, conditional releases have been granted to some top players, including Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, allowing them to play on both the DP World Tour and LIV.
“Player freedom is why LIV Golf was created, and it is the foundation of LIV Golf 2.0, a league built around its players,” Fitzgerald added while continuing his argument in court.
“LIV has made clear its belief in freedom of action and that top players should have greater flexibility to compete across the ecosystem. It is unfortunate that another tour would take an opposing view and pressure our players with false choices.”
Judge Michael B. Kaplan, overseeing the proceedings in New Jersey Bankruptcy Court, responded: “The comments I have read raise concerns. »
Responding to Kaplan’s request for clarity on the timeline for creating LIV 2.0, Fitzgerald said the “two critical elements” were structural, related to BC Partners’ investment, and having “a sufficient number of players to have a real golf league signed up by the 25th of this month.”
“We are working hard around the clock, both player-wise and structurally,” Fitzgerald added.
Asked when he would be able to inform the court “one way or another” whether LIV was “winding down its operations” or moving forward, Fitzgerald said: “We anticipate that decision will be made by the end of the month.
“Once we have full clarity on LIV 2.0, debtors will need to begin making payments to host sites, suppliers and other parties very soon, so that we can plan and prepare for LIV 2.0 events which we expect will take place shortly after emergence.”
LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States in September after Saudi Arabia withdrew its multibillion-dollar financing.
As part of the court-supervised “restructuring process”, which the organization hopes to conclude in early 2027, the players’ contracts have been “rejected” and no players are required to be part of the LIV in the future.
At Wednesday’s hearing, the contracts of 19 players – including those of Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson – were rejected, after being adjourned from a hearing last week because those players wanted to be clear that rejecting the contract would allow them to have conversations with third parties about their future.
LIV recruited a number of high-profile actors after launching in 2021, but now owes its participants at least $45 million (£33 million).
Current Race to Dubai frontman Patrick Reed, who left LIV in January, said he was accepted “from day one” after joining the European tour.
“This year, playing fully on this tour has been something that I’ve really enjoyed and I feel like the guys have appreciated me coming out and playing,” Reed said.
“I don’t feel any different. I feel like the guys accepted me from day one.
“I can see how some guys would sit there and have a problem with guys coming in and only playing the big events.
“I’ve come and played everything from big events to small events and everything in between. I feel like it’s been no different for me.”
Meanwhile, six-time major winner Rory McIlroy said LIV was in “such a state of change” and that the DP World Tour had been “more than accommodating” to players looking to leave the competition.
“The DP World Tour has every right to change the rules and regulations,” McIlroy said in his press conference ahead of Thursday’s start of the DP World Championship in India.
“It’s a way to protect their business and make the tour as strong as possible.”
On Tuesday, he told Bloomberg he would vote for LIV Golf defectors to return to the PGA Tour and believed the breakaway tour was no longer a threat to traditional tours.
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