LIV Golf player removes name from lawsuit against PGA Tour
Mexico's Carlos Ortiz has dropped his name from the antitrust lawsuit that was filed against the PGA Tour.
Carlos Ortiz has decided to remove his name from the antitrust lawsuit that was filed against the PGA Tour last week, according to Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard.
Ortiz had been down as one of 11 LIV Golf players to have filed the lawsuit that included the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Ian Poulter and his compatriot Abraham Ancer.
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Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak and Peter Uihlein were also on the lawsuit, as too were Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones who each asked for a "temporary restraining order" to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
But a judge ruling denied the trio on Tuesday.
"According to Ortiz’s manager, Carlos Rodriguez with Impact Point, Ortiz has decided to move on, although his name remains listed as one of the 11 plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit that was filed last week in the US District Court Northern California District," said Golf Channel's Hoggard.
Judge Freeman has now set a date for the antitrust lawsuit of September 2023.
"As the Tour's monopoly power has grown, it has employed its dominance to craft an arsenal of anticompetitive restraints to protect its long-standing monopoly," said the lawsuit.
"Now, threatened by the entry of LIV Golf, Inc and diametrically opposed to its founding mission, the Tour has ventured to harm the careers and livelihoods of any golfers, including Plaintiffs Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Bryson DeChambeau, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak, and Peter Uihlein, who have the temerity to defy the Tour and play in tournaments sponsored by the new entrant.
"The Tour has done so in an intentional and relentless effort to crush nascent competition before it threatens the Tour's monopoly."
Ortiz, like all the LIV Golf defectors this season, was suspended by the PGA Tour when he committed to play in the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
He has picked up just over $3 million for his efforts, which is more than he made on the PGA Tour last season.
Ortiz has only won once on the PGA Tour with victory coming at the 2020 Houston Open when holding off Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama by two shots.
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