Earlier this year, a LIV Golf team rebranded—and now the league has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit with an Ohio-based golf tee manufacturer that has a nearly identical name.
Stinger Golf, a company that says it produces more than 20 million golf tees each year, originally sued LIV on June 2, 2025, in Florida federal court seeking $100 million. The case centered around the LIV team formerly known as Stinger Golf Club, which was one of the original four-man LIV teams when the league launched in 2022. The Stinger Golf company accepted LIV’s offer to pay $1 million to close the case, according to a July 6 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Stinger Golf Club rebranded to Southern Guards GC in January ahead of the 2026 LIV season beginning in February. The team’s roster consists entirely of South African players, captained by 2010 Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen. The Southern Guards branding includes imagery of a rhino, as South Africa is home to more than 80% of the animal’s global population. Previous primary team branding included a sketched “S” and “Stinger GC” scripting.
The logo for the Stinger Golf tee company includes a flying insect resembling a bee or hornet. The lawsuit alleged unauthorized use of the Stinger name in connection with the LIV team and related merchandise, despite the Stinger Golf company’s existing trademarks. Several applications by LIV for trademarks around “Stinger GC” were ultimately abandoned. Stinger Golf was founded in 1998 and purchased by its current owner and president, Louis Rittberger, in 2007. Its product is available in golf retail locations throughout the U.S. and online.
“Obviously $1 million doesn’t represent all the damages that our client suffered,” Brian Barakat, a partner at Barakat + Bossa, the firm that represented Stinger Golf, told Front Office Sports. “It’s a settlement. Settlements are necessarily a compromise. What LIV did in this circumstance was pretty gross. We know that they knew long before they set up the Stinger Golf Club team that they were aware of our trademark, and they just decided that they didn’t care.”
World Wide Golf Brands, a former apparel partner of LIV, and the Stinger GC golf team were also listed as defendants in the case. Only LIV and the team (which is owned by the league) are responsible for paying Stinger Golf—in two payments, the first $200,000 owed 10 business days after the settlement offer was accepted, and $800,000 on Sept. 18.
LIV’s Future Impacted Settlement
The Stinger Golf company’s decision to settle was made in part due to concerns about LIV potentially entering bankruptcy, Barakat said. “They don’t feel like they’ve been made whole,” he said. “They bowed to the realities of this situation and made a compromise that made business sense for them. We were very confident to go to trial. It wasn’t a compromise based on any fear of loss in the case. It was a compromise based on what we viewed as an imminent bankruptcy.”
Those bankruptcy projections come as LIV in April hired two veteran corporate restructuring executives, Gene Davis and Jon Zinman, to lead the league’s new independent directors committee. LIV’s new financial advisor, U.K.-based AlixPartners, and investment banker, U.S.-based Ducera Partners, each specialize in bankruptcy processes, among other business ownership transitions.
Last week, a former LIV technology partner, Mobii Systems Group Limited, sued the league seeking more than $1 million for breach of contract, unpaid invoices, and interest.
LIV’s Team Name History
The Stinger GC-to-Southern Guards GC rebrand occurred before the court made a ruling on the Stinger Golf company’s request for the LIV team to stop using the Stinger name. Southern Guards GC general manager Richard Glover in January said the rebrand was made in an effort to “embrace a name and visual identity that more authentically reflects who we are and where we come from.” LIV held its first event in South Africa in March, which was attended by more than 100,000 fans.
The Southern Guards are not the only LIV team to rebrand in the league’s five-year history. The Iron Heads GC became the Korean Golf Club ahead of the 2026 season. In April, Smash GC rebranded to OKGC—the team is captained by Talor Gooch, who played college golf in his home state at Oklahoma State. In 2023, the Niblicks GC became the RangeGoats GC, and Punch GC rebranded as Ripper GC.
LIV and its legal representatives in this case have been approached by FOS for comment in this story.
