Patrick Reed Suing Fox Sports, New York Post, Others for Defamation

Patrick Reed is suing Fox Sports, the New York Post, Hachette Book Group and the Associated Press, as well as author Shane Ryan and AP journalist Doug Ferguson for defamation. Reed’s attorney, Larry Klayman, announced the legal development on his website Tuesday, detailing Reed’s claims of malicious false reporting about his character.

“Today, Patrick Reed, professional golfer, recent LIV Golf Champion and current member of LIV Golf and DP World Tour brought suit for defamation, injurious falsehood, and tortious interference over malicious false publications, all of which were designed to severely harm Mr. Reed, his family and colleagues personally and professionally,” the statement reads. “The Defendants joined in this lawsuit … are alleged to have conspired with the PGA Tour, which fears competition from LIV Golf, of which Mr. Reed is a prominent player.”

Reed is seeking $250 million in damages. The latest filing is distinguished as a new lawsuit “related” to the previous $750 million lawsuit filed in August against the Golf Channel and on-air personality Brandel Chamblee. Reed’s legal team has since announced several additions to the original lawsuit.

The 2018 Masters champion—who has since defected from the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf—claimed Chamblee and the network have been “targeting Reed since he was 23 years old,” acting to stain his reputation with reports of cheating. In one instance at the ’19 Hero World Challenge, Chamblee criticized Reed for a penalty he received when he illegally improved his lie in a bunker, as verified by PGA Tour rules officials.

In September, Reed refiled the lawsuit to include Golf Channel analysts Damon Hack, Shane Bacon and Eamon Lynch. Reed also brought suit against Golfweek, where Lynch is a columnist, and their parent company Gannett. In this same refiling, the suit was moved from Texas to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville.

The LIV Golf member’s latest update to the defamation suit focuses heavily on author and Golf Digest contributor Shane Ryan.

“Shane Ryan is alleged to be pathologically obsessed with harming Mr. Reed and his family and colleagues, and given his well-known incestuous relationship with those on the PGA Tour, his latest book is part and parcel to the deluge of defamatory statements that have been published not just by the Defendants in this case,” the statement reads.

Ryan recently published a book with Hachette titled The Cup They Couldn’t Lose: America, The Ryder Cup, and The Long Road to Whistling Straits, and Reed asserts his work repeats the false attacks on his reputation.

The author and journalist responded to Reed and his attorney’s claims on Twitter, writing, “I am going to say the same thing I said 7 years ago when this was threatened: I stand by my reporting 100%.”