It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year for barrister Larry Klayman — dude has a deep-pockets client with a persecution complex.
That “client” is none other than sand-swiping, PGA Tour defecting Patrick Reed.
You may or may not recall that Reed, who threw his lot with the Saudis around June of this past year, had filed a $750 million complaint against Brandel Chamblee, The Golf Channel, Eamon Lynch, Golfweek, Gannett and other media outlets. Reed’s complaint alleged that those people and organizations “disseminated ‘fake news’ and have defamed and tortiously interefered with him (Reed).”
A Federal Judge quickly saw through it and dismissed the complaint in mid-November. Judge Timothy J. Corrigan explained that the complaint “failed to give Defendants notice of the grounds upon which each claim rests because Reed alleges 120 factual allegations, then proceeds to incorporate all 120 allegations into each count.”
Reed, who obviously suffers from a persecution complex, refuses to go away.
Attorney Klay has filed an “Amended Complaint” that claims “Mr. Reed is a player on the rival LIV Golf League, and many in the golf media have been enlisted by the PGA Tour to harm not just Mr. Reed but also his fellow players at LIV by repeatedly defaming and disparaging them.”
Klay also added this language: “It was recently disclosed that the PGA Tour had allegedly hired Clout Public Affairs LLC to smear LIV and its players in the media and fund, organize and incite 9/11 families to wage staged protests at LIV events and elsewhere.”
If that’s not enough, Klay added: “The Amended Complaint alleges defamation and tortious interference and seeks over $820,000,000 USD in damages for the severe harm that has been done to Mr. Reed financially and in terms of loss of good will and reputation.”
So evidently the $750 million is not enough. This go-round Reed is after north of $820 million.
And so on it goes with Reed, who has been his own worst enemy throughout his career. He was no angel in college and we’re pretty sure that when it comes time to depose those who have seen Reed in action, it could get ugly for Reed.
As for Chamblee and the rest of the journalists, they’re protected under this thing referred to a The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Reed probably needs to sit own and look that over.
Qualified LIV Defectors Will Receive Masters Invitations:
There will be no changes for the 2023 Masters when it comes to invitation criteria.
Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced that on Tuesday, adding that the Augusta National Golf Club will “invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters Tournament.” He added that any modification to such criteria for future years will be announced in April.
“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” Ridley said. “Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.”
Though Ridley didn’t mention LIV Golf by name, the announcement means that LIV members who qualify for the 2023 Masters will be allowed to play. Currently, there are 10 LIV players exempt into the 2023 event in April, including past champions Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson.
Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann are also already in the 2023 field while Abraham Ancer, Talor Gooch, Harold Varner III, Jason Kokrak, Kevin Na and Louis Oosthuizen are all in position to lock up a Masters berth via the year’s final Official World Golf Ranking.
2 Comments
forky76
A lot of people are reading into the Masters statement about possible changes to future qualification being announced in April as a hint that LIV players are going to be banned in future years. But take the blinkers off and you could also foresee changes to the owgr top 50 qualification criteria since they are becoming increasingly inaccurate.
With the top LIV guys dropping off the radar, it’s a lot easier to get into the top 50 than it used to be.. 50-70 ranked guys now find themselves higher up the pecking order. And I’m sure the chiefs at Augusta know letting these guys in is going to reduce the quality of the field. Pga tour v liv is not their fight.. majors should be the best of the best, regardless of where they play week to week.
Tom Edrington
Forky: The Masters field has and always has had a good number of amateurs in the field, as Bobby Jones had always dictated it be that way……long before you started following golf, The Masters has been known as the easiest major to win as you need to beat about 20 players — most never learn the secrets to taming ANGC, Jack did, that’s why he won six times…..Tiger found out early how to win it but then went through a long stretch without winning it……the U.S. Open has a pretty weak field due the high number of qualifiers…..so there’s nothing to your claim about a reduced quality of any Masters field, there are still only about 20 guys capable of winning it…..likewise, the Open Championship has a lot of “qualifiers” who are not capable of winning that either…..used to be that the PGA was considered easier to win, it has a lot of club pros in the field but that number has been trimmed over the years…as for LIV, until they start playing 72 holes, they will not qualify for world ranking points.