Patrick Reed is the latest LIV Golf rebel to turn to the courts after the 2018 Masters champion filed a defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee.
Reed is seeking a little more than $1 billion in damages after alleging Chamblee and the Golf Channel have conspired with the PGA Tour to defame him “since he was 23 years old” with a series of “malicious” attacks.
In the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Reed’s allegations include “misreporting information with falsity and/or reckless disregard of the truth, that is with actual and constitutional malice, purposely omitting pertinent key material facts to mislead the public, and actively targeting [Reed] to destroy his reputation, create hate, and a hostile work environment for him”.
Back in January 2020, Reed’s lawyer sent Chamblee a cease-and-desist letter demanding the analyst not repeat allegations the American had cheated during the Hero World Challenge a month before. Reed was penalised two shots for improving his lie in a bunker but claimed it was unintentional.
Reed now insists Chamblee’s criticism has led him to being branded with a reputation for being a cheat, while claiming to have “lost multiple multi-million dollar sponsorship deals” as a result of the allegations made.
Reed has won nine times on the PGA Tour, but was banned indefinitely by the circuit for his defection to the LIV Golf back in June. Now, just two months later, Reed feels commissioner Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour were after him for his involvement in the breakaway league.
The suit continues: “Despite his exceptional world-class golfing achievements, in June of 2022, Mr Reed was constructively terminated as a member of the PGA Tour, as a result of threats made and action taken by it’s (sic) Commissioner Jay Monahan and his PGA Tour, and signed with LIV Golf.”
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George Cooper
