Woods and McIlroy dragged into legal quagmire of golf’s civil war after being subpoenaed

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have been dragged into the legal quagmire of golf’s civil war after being subpoenaed over a PGA Tour players’ meeting last week.

Lawyers want Woods and McIlroy to reveal details of the meeting, which was followed by a $100million raft of new proposals for the Tour as they battle the Saudi-backed LIV breakaway. Larry Klayman, a lawyer who has acted on behalf of LIV rebel Patrick Reed and in a case against the PGA Tour, wants both golfers, and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, to testify under oath.

‘This is not a personal thing against Woods or McIlroy,’ he said. ‘It’s about getting information about what occurred at the players’ meeting and generally with regard to allegations in our complaint that the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and their commissioners are allegedly colluding in restraint of trade and anti-trust laws to harm the LIV Golf Tour and its players.’

Woods is said to have been given notice of a deposition on September 21, with McIlroy the following day and Monahan on September 27 in Florida.

This week McIlroy is chasing FedExCup glory, but the two-time winner began the Tour Championship near Atlanta with a rollercoaster run that left him nine shots adrift after nine holes of the opening round.

Staggered scoring meant the Northern Irishman started the tournament in seventh, six strokes behind world No 1 Scottie Scheffler.

But he then sent his opening drive out of bounds and had to wait an amazing seven holes for a first par.

By that point, his scorecard read triple bogey, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie, eagle.

Atop the leaderboard, Scheffler extended his lead to five after going two-under through his first nine holes.