Phil Mickelson and the other LIV Golf players who fled an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA our will have to wait until January 2024 for a trial ©Getty Images

LIV Golf players taking legal action against the PGA Tour will have to wait almost 16 months before their antitrust lawsuit goes to trial.

Beth Labson Freeman, the judge in the case being heard by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, has set an opening trial date of January 8 2024.

The tentative date for summary judgement, when it is expected the PGA Tour will ask for the case to be dismissed, is July 23 2023.

It means the players will be unable to play in PGA Tour events unless they can acquire a preliminary injunction from the court.

Talor Gooch and Hudson Swafford, who are both from the US, and Australia's Matt Jones were among the 11 players to sign up to the antitrust lawsuit and had also been seeking a temporary restraining order allowing them to participate in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs, which are ongoing.

Gooch, Swafford and Jones were unsuccessful in getting that temporary restraining order.

The initial group of 11 players - headlined by American Phil Mickelson and England's Ian Poulter - has lost Mexico's Carlos Ortiz after he asked to have his name removed.


Carlos Ortiz has withdrawn from the lawsuit against the PGA Tour ©Getty Images
Carlos Ortiz has withdrawn from the lawsuit against the PGA Tour ©Getty Images

The Associated Press has reported LIV Golf attorneys said they need discovery material from nine players, indicating that another may have left the legal action.

Americans Bryson DeChambeau, Pat Perez, Jason Kokrak and Peter Uihlein, as well as Mexico's Abraham Ancer, were the other players listed in the lawsuit.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is the majority owner of LIV Golf Investments and critics say that the country is using it for sportswashing.

Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, women's rights and free speech are severely restricted, and the country is leading a coalition which has carried out deadly airstrikes across Yemen since 2015.

These issues, combined with Saudi Arabia's links to the 9/11 terror attacks, have been at the centre of criticism over the athletes' decisions to join the series, especially in the US.

The PGA Tour has refused to negotiate with LIV Golf and suspended all players who have appeared in LIV tournaments.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also chairs the International Golf Federation Board.