Phil Mickelson is one of a handful of players who have been interviewed with regard to the United States Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation of the PGA Tour.
According to a New York Times report, Mickelson and fellow LIV Golf League players Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia have all been interviewed. The Justice Department reportedly met with PGA Tour lawyers earlier this week in Washington, D.C., but the timeline for the review remains unclear.
Last July news broke that the Department of Justice was investigating whether the Tour engaged in anticompetitive behavior against Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf. The upstart circuit has long been criticized as another way for the Saudi government to sportswash its human rights record via its Public Investment Fund.
The DOJ has also looked into the Official World Golf Ranking and the close relationships between PGA Tour leaders and those who operate the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship, which is being held this week at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.
From the Times report, “investigators have shown interest in the possibility that the Tour’s punitive approach threatened the integrity of golf’s labor market, which now includes a LIV faction that vocally argues that players are independent contractors who should be free to compete on tours as they choose.”
The Tour is currently being sued by LIV Golf for antitrust claims and has countersued both the PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
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