Although he wasn’t one of the 11 LIV Golf Series defectors who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour two weeks ago, 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed is apparently feeling litigious now and filed a $750 million defamation lawsuit against the Golf Channel and commentator Brandel Chamblee on Tuesday.
Long accused of cheating on the course, accusations which Chamblee has alluded to publicly on the Golf Channel, 32-year-old Reed claims the network and analyst have “actively” targeted Reed to “destroy his reputation, create hate, and a hostile work environment” since he was 23. Reed’s suit also alleges Chamblee and the Golf Channel have conspired with the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan to defame Reed for the past nine years.
The alleged attacks on the nine-time PGA Tour winner have “harmed his performance at tournaments and events, despite his excellent record, which record would be even much greater without the disruption and emotional distress caused by these personal attacks,” per the lawsuit. Essentially, part of his lawsuit relates to being heckled.
Reed, who has pocketed almost $4 million since joining the LIV series, is not suing the PGA Tour, but he is accusing Chamblee and the Golf Channel of doing the pro golf circuit’s bidding by bashing him for joining up with LIV Golf. (Tiger Woods has been accused of doing the same.)
“In retaliation for Mr. Reed’s decision to sign with LIV, Defendants Chamblee and Golf Channel, conspiring and acting in concert with the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and OWGR, have engaged in a pattern and practice of maliciously defaming Mr. Reed, as well as LIV and other golfers signed with LIV,” according to the lawsuit. “On information and belief, this pattern and practice of malicious defamation by the Defendants has been done at the behest of, and at the direction of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, in order to try to eliminate LIV and its golfers as competitors so that the PGA Tour and Golf Channel can continue to rake in billions of dollars in revenue…[Chamblee] has become Golf Channel’s primary mouthpiece and agent to push this defamatory agenda and inflict severe damage to Mr Reed, LIV, and other golfers signed with LIV.”
Reed’s complaint was filed before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in his hometown of Houston. Given Reed’s status as a public figure and the fact that he’s been accused of cheating multiple times as well as accepted a penalty for doing so, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the lawsuit get tossed out of court.
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