After an intense court session on Tuesday afternoon in San Jose, California, U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled against issuing a temporary restraining order that would have allowed three LIV Golf players to play in this week’s FedEx Cup Playoff event. 

The ruling means that Hudson Swafford, Talor Gooch and Matt Jones will not be part of the field in this week’s tournament at TPC Southwind. Gooch is ranked No. 20 in the standings, while Jones is 65th and Swafford 67th.

Since June, LIV golf has lured away players from the PGA Tour for a new tour featuring no cuts, shotgun starts and bigger paychecks. It has been controversial, mainly because the new tour is financially backed by Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, which is a country accused of violating civil rights. 

As LIV Golf players await court decision, Scottie Scheffler says situation is ‘frustrating’

Last week, 11 LIV golfers, including Phil Mickelson, went public with a lawsuit against the PGA Tour, which has banned them from participating in their events. Those golfers, in this case the plaintiffs, argued that they should be allowed to play under appeal.

Freeman denied the temporary restraining order because the players failed to show “irreparable harm” due to playing opportunities with LIV, and the fact that the money paid upfront by the Saudi-backed tour factored in the chances they wouldn’t be able to play in the FedEx Cup. 

Judge rules against LIV. Players will not be allowed to play the FedEx Cup Playoffs. "I find the plaintiffs have not established irreparable harm." Cites that LIV contracts took into account what would be lost on the PGA Tour.

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 9, 2022

“Those guys kind of made their decision to go to another tour and broke the rules and regulations of our tour,” World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler said Tuesday morning. “Now they are trying to sue us, which is definitely frustrating. When I heard it was going to happen – I know sometimes I’m not surprised to see it – but I’m definitely surprised to see some guys suing us.”

The tensions between the tours continues to rise as the PGA Tour wraps up this summer. It has been widely reported on Tuesday that Australian golfer Cameron Smith intends to leave for LIV Golf at the conclusion of the FedEx Cup playoffs. His deal is rumored to be worth $100 million. 

Judge Freeman is now laying out a timeline for the larger anti-trust litigation. That trial is now tentatively set for next September. Crikey, buckle up.

— Fire Pit Collective (@firepitstories) August 9, 2022

“I have no comment to that,” Smith said when asked about the reported deal on Tuesday. 

So now it’s on to the heavy hitters. 

Scheduled to talk Wednesday following the Pro-Am at TPC Southwind are Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, both top 10 golfers in the world rankings, who have been staunch proponents of the PGA Tour. 

Other players voiced their support of the PGA Tour against its rising competition.

“For me, I fully support the PGA Tour 100%,” said Sam Burns, ranked No. 3 in the FedExCup season standings. “It was a pretty easy decision for me when all this started because I went back and thought about when I was a kid growing up and being on the putting green and having a chance to—in my imagination—win a PGA Tour event. Win a major.

“That’s one of the reasons I play golf is because I love what the PGA stands for and it’s one of the reasons I enjoy being out here.”

Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim, who won last week’s Wyndham Championship, added: “When I was younger, I would see Tiger (Woods) win on the PGA Tour. … So for me, that was always the goal. I feel like one day when I get really old and not be able to play the game anymore, I would want to at least feel comfortable with retiring and at least say I gave it—I played with the best players in the world.”

Sportswriter John Varlas contributed to this story.