Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have been subpoenaed to appear in court as the war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continues to escalate.
This week, the explosive saga took another twist when TMRW Sports - a new company formed by the two major champions - announced the arrival of TGL. The PGA-accredited contest will be introduced in 2024 and showcase six teams each, consisting of three players, and will be played in a 'custom-built venue'.
The venture is deemed a direct move to stave off the threat of the rebel LIV tour, with CEO Greg Norman offering huge sums of money to secure signings. The likes of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia have been among those to defect, while Henrik Stenson was stripped of the 2023 European Ryder Cup captaincy over his move.
And with Open champion Cameron Smith having all but admitted he's soon to join them, last week PGA Tour players held crisis talks ahead of the second FedEX playoff event. Whilst McIlroy, 33, was already involved as a competitor, Woods flew in especially in a bid to rally players.
The two were joined by 22 others, and it seems proposals for the stadium-based virtual league were outlined. The rebel tour have since responded with a blunt statement which read: "LIV Golf is clearly the best thing that’s ever happened to help the careers of professional golfers."
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And now Freedom Watch, a US company founded by Larry Klayman which 'works to protect and promote freedom in the U.S. and around the world' has announced Woods and McIlroy will be summoned "with regard to their participation in a recent players' meeting at Wilmington Country Club."
A released statement read: "It is believed that discussions occurred which are alleged in the above complaint to be anticompetitive and violative of the antitrust laws vis a vis the LIV Golf Tour and its players.
"Woods is noticed for deposition on September 21, 2022, and McIlroy for September 22, 2022, in their hometown of Jupiter, Florida, after requests for production are due to be served by the defendants. These document requests require production of the documents and audio or visual recordings of this meeting, among other relevant information to the class action lawsuit."
And PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will also appear: "The documents will thus be used at Wood's and McIlroy's depositions. PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan's deposition will follow and has been noticed for September 27, 2022, in Jupiter as well."
Klayman himself was quoted, and implied the development was not "personal." He said the organisation looked forward to the trio telling the truth, with sworn testimony, under oath.
"It's about getting information about what occurred at the players' meeting and generally with regard to allegations in our complaint that the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and their commissioners Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley, are allegedly colluding in restraint of trade and the antitrust laws to harm the LIV Golf Tour and its players.
"Just today, the PGA Tour announced changes in its tournaments by again upping winning purses with guaranteed attendance payments for top players, attempting to emulate LIV Golf, while continuing to allegedly harm LIV and its players by, among other alleged anticompetitive acts, working to deny them world ranking points to compete in major tournaments such as the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA championships. One can perhaps now call the new PGA Tour 'LIV Light.'"
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