The ‘LIV 11’ lawsuit was always going to make public the internal rows and wrangling between players, organizers and the various tours.

• Related: ‘Stay away in your fantasy land’ – Pro blasts LIV rebels over wanting to play PGA Tour events

Amongst the 11, three players – Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford – are seeking a TRO (temporary restraining order) in order to be able to play the FedEx Cup events, starting on Thursday.

• Related: ‘We just won’t play’ – Major champ says PGA Tour pros could strike if LIV ban is overturned

As reported last week, the complaint from the LIV players alleges that being denied access to the FedEx Cup Playoffs not only would prevent Gooch, Swafford and Jones from playing in those events but “also cripples their chances of qualifying for both the Majors and the Tour’s premier invitationals in future seasons. The punishment that would accrue to these players from not being able to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs is substantial and irreparable, and a temporary restraining order is needed to prevent the irreparable harm that would ensue were they not to be able to participate.”

The PGA Tour yesterday issued its response to the accusation, the 30-plus page document stating that “the TRO plaintiffs waited nearly two months to seek relief from the court, “fabricating an emergency they now maintain requires immediate action.”

The PGA Tour continues:

“Despite knowing full well that they would breach Tour Regulations and be suspended for doing so, plaintiffs have joined competing golf league LIV Golf, which has paid them tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed money supplied by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to procure their breaches. TRO plaintiffs now run into court seeking a mandatory injunction to force their way into the Tour’s season-ending FedExCup Playoffs, an action that would harm all Tour members that follow the rules. The antitrust laws do not allow Plaintiffs to have their cake and eat it too.”

The tour uses several statements from the plaintiffs in its defence.

When asked if he knew the tour would ban him from the tour for playing without a conflicting event-release, Jones said, “you’ve got to expect” it and acknowledged the possibility of never playing on the PGA Tour again after his suspension. “I did come to this [LIV] series and this tournament with the understanding that could be the case.”

The tour also argues against Gooch’s statement at the Open Championship that he only intended to play a single LIV event before getting suspended, the tour believing that he was intending to play more than the inaugural event at the Centurion Club.

Alongside those objections, the PGA Tour object to the accusation of pressuring sponsors to cancel existing deals with LIV players, that it enlisted the more experienced players, such as Tiger Woods, to intimidate players from joining, and that it colluded with the DP World Tour in its reaction to the defections.

The document ends, “For the foregoing reasons, the PGA Tour respectfully requests that the court deny TRO.”

Elliot Peters of Keker, Van Nest & Peters, representing the PGA Tour, confirmed the stance being taken by the leading tour.

“The players’ participation in the LIV league is in violation of the PGA Tour’s Handbook and Tournament Regulations,” he stated.

“For enormous sums of cash supplied by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Plaintiffs willfully breached their agreements with the PGA Tour. The players’ purported harm is entirely self-induced. We will litigate this case vigorously to preserve the reputation of the PGA Tour and protect the benefits it offers to players.”