Sergio Garcia Files To Have LIV Golf Contract Terminated

Sergio Garcia is looking to have his LIV Golf contract officially terminated to avoid any confusion with other parties he may wish to do business with, according to court documents.

As first spotted by the Financial Times, The Spaniard has filed new court documents saying that the current contract situation with LIV Golf is confusing, and may prevent him from trying to either join another tour or attract business deals while third parties are unlcear if he is a free agent or not.

LIV Golf entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy and as part of restructuring for the 2.0 version, contracts with players will effectively be voided leaving players to choose their own future.

It's a double whammy for LIV Golf coming hot on the heels of LIV Golf Adelaide venue Kooyonga Golf Club also filing court papers looking for answers on whether that 2027 event will go ahead.

LIV sources with knowledge of the situation have stressed to Golf Monthly that it's commonplace in Chapter 11 cases for associated parties to ask the court for clarification over contracts - which is what Garcia and Kooyonga are effectively doing - and the decisions are to be made by the court.

Garcia's lawyers accept that point, and are happy for his current contract to be torn up eventually, but they argue that current ambiguity could negatively affect him - so have asked for court permission to end the contract themselves.

"Garcia respectfully requests that any order authorizing rejection of the agreement provide that the agreement is terminated or, in the alternative, modify the automatic stay to permit Garcia to effectuate termination of the agreement in accordance with its terms," says the court document - which essentially means Garcia wants the right to cancel his LIV contract himself.

Garcia's legal team argue that having the current contract situation in place, where LIV deals are likely to be cancelled but nothing is yet official, could prevent the Spaniard from doing business elsewhere.

In particular, the court documents mention that the uncertainty is damaging for a professional athlete and could prevent him from getting into tournaments, back on tours such as the DP World Tour and also put off sponsors.

"So long as the agreement remains of record, tournament organizers, sponsors, and other counterparties may hesitate before dealing with Garcia, who may be unable to represent that they are free of competing contractual commitments," reads the papers.

"That uncertainty is particularly acute for a professional athlete, whose tournament schedule, sponsorship arrangements, and participation in other events must be planned well in advance, and whose competitive career is necessarily finite."

Ever since LIV Golf filed for bankruptcy there's been reports of players weighing up their futures and checking out other avenues available to them, from DP World Tour tournaments and Q-School to the Asian Tour.

Plenty have voiced support for LIV Golf 2.0 if it happens, but CEO Scott O'Neil still faces a race against time to get enough players signed up to get a big investment deal with BC Partners over the line.

Garcia may yet be one of those players to sign up for 2.0, and while O'Neil isn't involved with the current contract situation as it's with the courts, he is involved in sorting out new deals for the new version of LIV.

But until that's all made official, it seems Garcia wants to become an instant free agent to help open the door for other options.