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Talor Gooch
Photo: Seth Little/AP
Golf pros Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford have been dismissed by a US court in their lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
They had applied for an injunction to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs despite their bans.
US federal judge Beth Labso Freeman denied the request, arguing that the three players knew of the possible consequences of their participation in the LIV golf series and were compensated for this with their onboarding fees.
No "irreparable damage" due to PGA exclusion
Gooch, Jones and Swafford are among a group of professionals who have joined newcomers to the established US golf series, the PGA.
The LIV is financed by the Saudi Arabian »Public Investment Fund« (PIF) and has been criticized as an attempt at sports washing - the sports project is intended to improve the image of the state and distract attention from human rights violations.
The PGA Tour has banned the LIV players from their competitions.
Gooch, Swafford and Jones said they would suffer "irreparable harm" from the bans, a common criterion for granting such requests.
Judge Beth Labso Freeman said in the verdict that the damages to the disfellowshiped golfers were purely financial.
That alone does not meet the definition of "irreparable damage".
mrk