Top Golf Newsmakers of 2022: LIV Golf and Lawsuits for Patrick Reed
Who He Is: Former PGA Tour member, current LIV Golf member, plaintiff
SI Golf Rank: 7 (Bob Harig), 10 (Gabby Herzig), 9 (John Schwarb)
Why He's Here: After stating early in 2022 that he would not leave the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf, Patrick Reed in June stated that he absolutely would leave the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf. Reed, 32, made the move after struggling to just one top-25 finish on the PGA Tour in the first six months of 2022.
After joining LIV, Reed’s primary equipment sponsor, PXG, dropped him, but Reed slipped on a LIV Golf cap and promptly dropped his gloves. At his first LIV press conference ahead of the Portland event, the second event of LIV’s existence, Reed was asked what the PGA Tour could do differently to stop the run of player defections. "Listen to the players for once," Reed quipped.
Patrick Reed is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in defamation suits.
Michael Madrid/USA TODAY Sports
Reed played much better on the LIV circuit than he did on the PGA Tour, and he also ratcheted up the stakes outside the ropes. In August news broke that he was suing Golf Channel and analyst Brandel Chamblee for defamation while seeking $750 million in damages. In the suit Reed’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, said that the defendants were “actively targeting Reed since he was 23 years old, to destroy his reputation, create hate, and a hostile work environment for him, and with the intention to discredit his name and accomplishments as a young, elite, world-class golfer.” In September, Reed amended his lawsuit to include Golfweek and Gannett, plus Golf Channel’s Damon Hack, Shane Bacon and Eamon Lynch.
In November Reed and Klayman struck again, this time lodging a $250 million libel complaint against golf writers Shane Ryan and Doug Ferguson, along with the Associated Press, Hachette Book Group, the New York Post and Fox Sports. That same month a Florida court tossed the initial $750 million lawsuit, but on Dec. 16 Klayman filed an amended complaint, raising the price to $820 million. While Reed thus far has failed to win nearly $1 billion in court, he could claim a successful year on the course. He rang up three LIV top-10 finishes in six stroke-play events and his team, 4 Aces, won four team titles and the season-ending team championship. For the year, Reed banked more than $12 million in LIV prize money.
2023 Outlook: Reed figures to be a LIV Golf mainstay going forward, and with his spot on 4 Aces apparently secure he’s looking at another lucrative season. With so much swirling around him on and off the course, Reed figures to be a newsmaker again in 2023.