Rebels fail to overturn Asian Tour suspension

Reuters: Five Asian Tour golfers have failed in their bid to have a suspension overturned after a court upheld the decision to punish them for playing in a rival tour.

Australian duo of Terry Pilkadaris and Matthew Griffin, Guido van der Valk of the Netherlands, Scotland’s Simon Yates and Malaysia’s Anis Helmi Hassan were fined $5,000 and subsequently suspended after they competed in the rival OneAsia Tour.

The quintet refused to pay the fine and sued the Asian Tour for “unreasonable restraint of trade” but their suspension was upheld by the high court, Channel NewsAsia reported on Friday.

The golfers’ lawyer Cavinder Bull challenged the ban, saying it jeopardised his clients’ “rice-bowls”.

“My clients are not Tiger Woods. They are not in that class,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.

However, Asian Tour lawyer Simon Yuen said the golfers had paid the penalty because they had “got greedy”.

“If the grass is greener on the other side, they can play on the other side. They can resign and play anywhere else,” he said.