Former Masters champ Patrick Reed accused the Golf Channel and network analyst Brandel Chamblee of conspiring with the golf establishment “to destroy LIV” and defaming him for nearly a decade in a lawsuit seeking more than $750 million in damages.
While Golf Channel and Chamblee are the only named defendants, the lawsuit filed in a Texas federal court on Tuesday alleges the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour are “acting in concert” to “maliciously defame Mr. Reed, LIV, and other golfers.”
A spokesperson for the Golf Channel declined comment.
The lawsuit details the feud between Reed and Chamblee.
- Chamblee “has shown himself to be a disciple of the Skip Bayless school of sports analysis,” and his critiques of Reed are made “in order to leech attention, notoriety, and fame.”
- Reed alleges the “longstanding pattern and practice of maliciously defaming” includes a 2019 segment where Chamblee said on air that Reed’s “ego is as big as Jupiter.”
- Chamblee, both on air and via Twitter, said players on the Saudi-backed series are accepting “blood money.”
“Mr. Reed has never accepted ‘blood money,’” Reed’s lawyer, right-wing activist attorney Larry Klayman, wrote in the lawsuit.
LIV Litigation
Earlier this month, Phil Mickelson and 10 other LIV Golf players filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour. Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, and Matt Jones, plaintiffs in that federal case, also sought a temporary restraining order in order to play in the FedEX Cup Playoffs, but the trio were denied the injunction last week.
