Report: LIV Golf Involved In 'Secret Legal Dispute' With Premier Golf League

The LIV Golf League has reportedly been involved in a "secret legal dispute" with the Premier Golf League that could be settled for "well in excess of" $12.5 million, according to The Times.

The British newspaper "presumed the dispute centres around intellectual property," with PGL previously stating its league would involve 48 golfers competing in 54-hole events with shotgun starts and no cuts in a stroke-play format.

The tournaments were also supposedly set to have $20 million prize purses each time, and the individual winner each week would have received a cheque for $4m with at least $150k to last place.

PGL - which was headed up by former corporate finance lawyer, Andrew Gardiner - was due to feature 12 teams of four, with only two scores from each side counting towards the total.

The inspiration, Gardiner said, was the Ryder Cup: "If you can bring any of the brilliance of the Ryder Cup into a more regular format, then it’s got to be a good thing. It’s easier for a fan to have allegiance to a team than it is to an individual."

Both circuits - PGL and LIV - aimed to break away from golf's status quo and were seen as a threat to the long-standing PGA Tour and European Tour. PGL aimed to launch in 2022, shortly before LIV eventually did.

Per The Times, PGL asked lawyers to act on the matter. However, "the dispute has not been filed in the courts" and conversations have taken place around settling out of court.

Multiple sources reportedly told The Times that PGL "were initially seeking compensation closer to the [$60 million] mark."

Gardiner had allegedly held talks with Saudi investors before Golf Saudi - a subsidiary of the PIF - opted to create a new entity itself called LIV Golf Investments. That was launched in October 2021 and featured former Masters winner Greg Norman as its CEO and commissioner.

Rory McIlroy was approached about joining the Premier Golf League in 2014 and 2020 but has publicly stood against such an idea on several occasions - in part due to its association with the PIF.

The first time he spoke out against PGL was in March 2020, discussing the fact he would not be able to choose his own schedule and mentioning his dislike behind the source of potential sponsorship.

Later repeating his views in 2021, at a time in which the Northern Irishman was chairman of the Player Advisory Council on the PGA Tour, McIlroy said: “Look, they first contacted me back in 2014, so this is seven years down the line, and nothing has really changed.

“Maybe the source of the money's changed or the people that are in charge have changed, but nothing has happened. No sponsorship deals, no media deals, no players have signed up, no manufacturers have signed up. There's been so many iterations at this point.

“I think people … you go back to what happened last week in Europe with the European Super League in football. People can see it for what it is, which is a money grab. Which is fine if that's what you're playing golf for is to make as much money as possible. Totally fine, then go and do that if that's what makes you happy.

"But I think the top players in the game, I'm just speaking my own personal beliefs, like I'm playing this game to try to cement my place in history and my legacy and to win major championships and to win the biggest tournaments in the world. That's why I'm playing this game.”