THE SIDELINES : PGA Wants Club Ban Reinstated

The PGA Tour has appealed a federal judge’s order temporarily barring the PGA from banning so-called square-grooved golf irons from its tournaments.

Attorneys for the PGA asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to overturn the preliminary injunction issued last week by U.S. District Judge Paul Rosenblatt in Phoenix.

The PGA said Rosenblatt’s order, issued at the request of Karsten Manufacturing Co. of Phoenix, was drastic and will inflict irreparable harm on the PGA and many golf club manufacturers.

“The injunction is unprecedented in scope and application and seriously jeopardizes the authority of a sports-sanctioning body to adopt, implement and enforce rules and regulations affecting its members and the standard of play of its tournaments,” PGA attorneys William F. Bennett and Jerry Markham wrote in papers filed with the appeals court.