LIV Golf responds to shocking player contract claim

Much of the drama surrounding the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series is the astronomical contract numbers that players like Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, not to mention the shocking offer made to Tiger Woods. However, a report from last week’s court proceedings seemed to imply that all that glittered was not, in fact, gold for the players.

LIV Golf was an emergency injunction that would prevent the PGA Tour from banning its golfers from participating in the FedEx Cup, which they lost. However, during the proceedings, a LIV attorney admitted that some of the guaranteed upfront money given to the players is actually more like an advance. As the attorney put it, the money players earn in tournaments is counted against the upfront money they get when they sign on with the league.

If that’s true, that means that while the money in their contracts is still technically guaranteed, players can make more than their upfront payments until they’ve recouped that amount in tournament winnings. That would make these “guaranteed” contracts considerably less enticing.

LIV Golf President & COO Atul Khosla soon denied those claims and refuted what the attorney was saying in court in a statement to SI.com.

“Seems there is a misunderstanding regarding prize purses,” said Khosla. “This issue is simple, and we’ve addressed it before. Prize money is of course separate from the contractual monies that players earn. As you already know, prize money is not subtracted from a player’s contractual earnings.

“That’s all there is to it.’’

It’s unclear why an attorney representing LIV Golf in court would say something that is apparently antithetical to how the contracts work.

[SI.com]