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The Least Historic Historic Day Ever.

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Ralph Wiggum:

--- Quote from: Drafe Hoblin on August 01, 2022, 10:54:01 PM ---I'm realizing it's tough to wean myself off of the PGA-Tour product.

But the attraction is to do it.  Mainly for the wicker-basket of new golf-courses that the LIV will be competing on.  The PGA's offering is exhausted and outdated.  Even TPC-Sawgrass and Augusta are tediously predictable.  A full LIV-season will periodically stop there every few years.  Course-records still stand and the nostalgic moments aren't in-danger of maudlinism.

Get rid of the 'Cups' and put the finishing-touches on some sort of draft-system.

--- End quote ---

As we've discussed before, no one cares about the FedEx Cup. Ask a devoted golf fan to name the last 5 FedEx Cup winners and I'll bet no one can.  The Ryder Cup is fine, and the President's Cup is passable although the U.S. never loses. If they really wanted to fix it, just stage the Ryder Cup as The United States versus the Rest of the World.  Before a certain point, the Ryder Cup was only US versus England, as they added the rest of Europe to make it more competitive.

And now:

Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau among 11 golfers to file antitrust lawsuit against PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and nine other golfers suspended by the PGA Tour for joining LIV Golf have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour on Wednesday.

In addition, three of those golfers are seeking a temporary restraining order from a federal judge that would allow them to compete in the upcoming FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, requested relief that would allow Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones to play in the three FedEx Cup Playoff events, starting with next week's FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.

"The punishment that would accrue to these players from not being able to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs is substantial and irreparable," the golfers' attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, "and a temporary restraining order is needed to prevent the irreparable harm that would ensue were they not to be able to participate."

Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Peter Uihlein, Jason Kokrak, Pat Perez and Abraham Ancer are the other plaintiffs identified in the lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN on Wednesday.

"As part of its carefully orchestrated plan to defeat competition, the Tour has threatened lifetime bans on players who play in even a single LIV Golf event," the lawsuit says. "It has backed up these threats by imposing unprecedented suspensions on players (including the Plaintiffs) that threaten irreparable harm to the players and their ability to pursue their profession. It has threatened sponsors, vendors, and agents to coerce players to abandon opportunities to play in LIV Golf events. And it has orchestrated a per se unlawful group boycott with the European Tour to deny LIV Golf access to their members."

The three players filing suit to compete in the upcoming FedEx Cup Playoffs were suspended from the PGA Tour by commissioner Jay Monahan after they competed in LIV Golf events without a conflicting-event release. Gooch is ranked 20th in the FedEx Cup points standings; Swafford is 63rd and Jones is 91st. The top 125 players in points are eligible for the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event.

Among other things, the players' attorneys argued in their motion that prohibiting them from competing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs would restrict them from gaining Official World Golf Ranking points that would allow them to gain exemption into the four major championships next season.

"The Tour's conduct serves no purpose other than to cause harm to players and foreclose the entry of the first meaningful competitive threat the Tour has faced in decades," the lawsuit says. "Banning Plaintiffs and other top professional golfers from its own events degrades the Tour's strength of field and diminishes the quality of the product that it offers to golf fans by depriving them from seeing many top golfers participate in Tour events. The only conceivable benefit to the Tour from degrading its own product in this manner is the destruction of competition. Indeed, the Tour has conceded its nakedly anticompetitive purpose in attacking and injuring the players."

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/34341768/phil-mickelson-bryson-dechambeau-11-golfers-file-antitrust-lawsuit-pga-tour

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