Voice over: Michael Robles
Writer: Ryan Young
Video editor: Lance Keller
Patrick Reed, who won the Masters in 2018,
has since left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf
A federal judge in
Florida
dismissed both of Patrick Reed’s
defamation lawsuits Wednesday, ending the LIV Golf
member’s litigation against the Golf Channel, The
Associated Press and other reporters,
according to Front
Office Sports’ A.J. Perez
.
Reed filed a pair of lawsuits last year
seeking a combined
at least $1 billion in damages after he claimed Golf
Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel and
others were conspiring with the PGA Tour to “engage in a
pattern and practice of defaming” him since he was 23
years old. In total, Reed filed his case against 18
journalists and news organizations.
Judge Timothy J. Corrigan dismissed both lawsuits
Wednesday with prejudice, meaning they can’t be refiled
later.
“Because Reed is a public figure, he must sufficiently
allege facts showing actual malice by the defendants to
maintain his claims,” Corrigan wrote in his order,
via Front
Office Sports
. “To satisfy this standard, Reed must allege
facts sufficient to give rise to a reasonable inference that
the false statement was made ‘with knowledge that it was
false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or
not.’
“Reed’s amended complaints in both lawsuits fall short of
alleging sufficient facts showing that any Defendant had
actual malice. This deficiency is fatal to each defamation
claim.”
Reed initially filed his lawsuit in Texas last year
, but then
he refiled them in Florida and added more defendants.
Reed, who has since left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, said
that Chamblee, the Golf Channel and other media outlets
had a goal to “destroy his reputation, create hate and a
hostile work environment for him,” and that they had “the
intention to discredit his name and accomplishments.”
Reed also claims he lost “multi-million dollar sponsorship
deals” when he was “terminated” from the Tour. He
resigned from the Tour, however, when he left for LIV
Golf.
Reed — who
actually listed out a number of personal
attacks he’s said he has heard
while golfing on Tour —
also claimed that the reporters and news outlets were
“falsely and maliciously branding him as a cheater, liar, a
thief, a murderer and someone who accepts blood money
from terrorists.” Reed has been accused of or linked to
rule violations or near-rule violations dating back to his
time playing collegiately at Georgia.
Corrigan, however, said the claims Reed had made fell
well short of qualifying for “actual malice” — even if some
of the “negative media coverage he receives” sometimes
“seems over the top.”
Reed won nine times on the PGA Tour before he left for
LIV Golf, and he won the Masters in 2018. He is in his
second season with LIV Golf, and competes on the Four
Aces team with
Dustin Johnson
, Pat Perez and Peter
Uihlein. Reed finished in 21st at LIV Golf’s latest
tournament in Chicago.
###
