Defending PGA European Tour in landmark LIV Golf disciplinary appeals

We successfully defended the PGA European Tour against claims brought by a number of high-profile professional golfers seeking to challenge fines and suspensions imposed as a result of their participation in the rival LIV Golf series. In a critically important decision with far reaching implications for the sporting world, the appeal panel rejected the players’ appeals in their entirety and upheld the Tour’s regulations.

The challenge

When the LIV Golf Invitational Series launched in 2022, it caused considerable controversy in the world of golf. As a result of fines and suspensions being issued to Tour players participating in conflicting LIV tournaments, a coordinated appeals process was launched by the players, claiming the sanctions were anti-competitive, unlawful restraints of trade and procedurally flawed.  

The high-profile case raised fundamental questions about how sports organisations are able to protect themselves from rivals and, in particular, what level of protection may be pro or anti-competitive. With 12 claimants – many being household names in the world of golf – and a high-profile tribunal, the stakes for the Tour were very high.

Our approach

We were appointed predominantly because of the strength and depth of our disputes practice and our outstanding track record in winning complex, business critical disputes but also due to our expertise and reputation in competition law, sports disputes and international arbitration.

The team defended the Tour’s regulations and sanctions on a number of fronts, arguing that the Tour’s regulations were clear and contractually binding, did not infringe competition law and were not a restraint of trade. Innovative case management techniques were used to ensure that the case, which required an intricate legal and expert analysis of the competition landscape of professional golf, could proceed on highly compressed timetable akin to that of a speedy High Court trial.

The outcome

The independent Appeal Panel, chaired by His Honour Phillip Sycamore CBE and including King’s Counsel from both commercial and competition backgrounds, dismissed all appeals. It upheld the Tour’s regulations, confirmed that it had the right to impose and enforce fines and suspensions, and found that the claimants had committed serious breaches of the Tour’s Code of Behaviour. 

Had the Panel found otherwise, the Tour’s regulations preventing members from playing in rival events which conflict with its own would have been materially undermined, which would have limited its ability to compete and attract the best players to its tournaments. Not only was the decision critically important to the Tour but set an important precedent for other organisations operating in the increasingly lucrative, competitive and litigious world of sport.