LOS ANGELES — Two days after the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund agreed to a partnership that ends all litigation, another lawsuit has been filed against LIV Golf and Phil Mickelson over a logo.
Cool Brands Supply, an Argentine lifestyle and skateboard company, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit last Thursday that claims Mickelson’s “HyFlyers” logo used in LIV Golf is a knockoff of their Fallen Footwear logo.
Both logos feature a pair of “Fs” facing in opposite directions.
Mickelson is the team captain of HyFlyers, which includes Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale and James Piot.
The complaint says Fallen Footwear has used the back-to-back Fs for a logo since 2003. It accuses LIV of using the logo on hats, shirts and sweatshirts sold as merchandise.
“The similarities between the two marks, particularly when used on clothing, are striking, and are confusing consumers and causing damage to Plaintiff’s senior mark and brand,” Cool Brands Supply argue in the lawsuit.
It claims it asked LIV and Mickelson to stop using the logo and they refused.
Mickelson wears the HyFlyers logo when he competes, including the majors. He is playing in the U.S. Open this week, the one major keeping Mickelson from the career Grand Slam.
The antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour - and the tour’s countersuit - are still in federal court in Northern California. They agreed to drop litigation as part of their agreement for the PGA Tour, European tour and Public Investment Fund to create a new for-profit company involving their commercial business.
FINALLY ARRIVED
Olin Browne Jr. was the medalist at the U.S. Open qualifying site that had the most PGA Tour players. Turns out that might have been the easiest part of getting to his first U.S. Open.
Browne, the 34-year-old son of Olin Browne, is among 20 players at Los Angeles Country Club who had to get through two stages of qualifying - the 18-hole local qualifier, followed by the final 36-hole stage.
“I actually had to make a 30-footer in regulation to even make it into a playoff at locals,” Browne said Monday. “Thinking back over what happened on Monday (at final qualifying), that 30-footer that happened to go in was a big deal.”
So is getting here.
His father is a three-time PGA Tour winner who played 12 times in the U.S. Open. Perhaps the most notable was in 2005. It was in final qualifying that the elder Browne thought about withdrawing because of a poor start, reconsidered because of the message it would send his son, and then shot 59 to get in. Thirteen days later, he was in the second-to-last group at Pinehurst No. 2.
The son went to Pepperdine and has been grinding on the mini-tours ever since, not wanting to give up his dream because he keeps seeing improvement.
“If I wanted to do something else I’d hang them up and go figure out whatever that is, but I haven’t gotten there yet,” Browne said.
For now, he’s thrilled to have a chance to compete in his first U.S. Open, which he referred to as the Super Bowl of golf.
“It’s awesome that they allow people like me the opportunity to play two qualifiers to get here,” Browne said. “That means a lot to me. It gives you a little bit of hope every year that you’ll be able to come and play on such a great venue like this. That’s why I keep doing it.”
TROPHY TALES
The U.S. Open had a camera crew set up in front of the clubhouse at Los Angeles Country Club, unusual for a Monday. They were there to capture a sad moment for Matt Fitzpatrick.
The defending champion had to return the trophy (he gets a replica).
“I was so sad about that,” Fitzpatrick said. “I didn’t feel like I spent enough time with it, really. Literally probably the month right after the Open, after St Andrews, I went on holiday to Italy with some friends. I took it there for a week. That’s about as exciting as it got.”
Fitzpatrick said he was on a boat, so the trophy went to Capri, Amalfi and Positano.
“Had a few nice day trips out,” he said.
Now comes the hard part - getting it back. Brooks Koepka is the only player in the field who has won the U.S. Open in consecutive years.
PACE OF PLAY
Billy Horschel is not expecting pace of play to get any faster at the U.S. Open, and he points to two reasons. One is the 284-yard seventh hole. The other is the 290-yard 11th.
Justin Thomas said it was the first time he’s had to hit a 3-wood into a par 3 twice in one round. And then there’s the small matter of hitting the green.
Having 280-yard par 3s - two of them - is not going to make it play any faster,” Horschel said.
Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick agreed.
“I think it’ll be slow. I think the long par 3s tend to screw that one up,” Fitzpatrick said. “So yeah, I’d probably say … it’s five hours every week, so it will be nothing new here, I would imagine.”
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