LIV Golf’s antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour is ongoing, but the field is getting smaller.
Pat Perez, one of the original 11 players from the Saudi-backed circuit to bring the suit against the tour, has dropped out, Sports Illustrated reported on Saturday (AEST).
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He is the second player to have done so this week, with Carlos Ortiz also having moved on from the suit. Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, meanwhile, are still part of the lawsuit, which has a trial date of January 2024.
Perez, 46, is a three-time winner on the PGA Tour and bolted for LIV in June. He made his debut in the circuit’s second tournament, outside Portland, Ore., and told SI on Friday that he joined the lawsuit out of loyalty to the other players, all of whom, including Perez, have been suspended by the tour since joining LIV .
“I didn’t really think it through,” Perez told SI of joining the lawsuit.
“I did it to back our guys.”
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“I have no ill feelings towards the PGA Tour or any of the players. I’m a LIV guy 100 percent. I’m going to play for them. But I don’t feel any need to go after the PGA Tour. They gave me a wonderful opportunity for 21 years. I’ve got nothing against them, no hard feelings towards anybody. I earned everything I got out there, don’t get me wrong.
“I chose to leave and I’m not looking to come back. I’d like to maybe play the Champions Tour one day if that can work out and that’s why I haven’t given up my membership. But there is no benefit to doing this. I have an unbelievable deal with LIV and I’m behind them 100 percent.”
Perez inked a four-year deal with LIV in the neighborhood of $10 million guaranteed, according to sources.
In two tournaments thus far, he has earned just over $1.8 million, with $1.5 million of that coming via twice being on the winning team.
Earlier this month, a federal judge denied a motion sought by three players who are part of the larger antitrust lawsuit — Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones — to play in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, which conclude next week.
This story originally appeared on the New York Post and has been reposted with permission
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