Hank Haney Vs. PGA Tour — It’s Litigation City Baby!

Sorry, but Judge Judy won’t be handling this one.

Hank Haney filed a lawsuit this past Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.  It’s Hank Haney the Plaintiff vs. the PGA Tour, the Defendant.

So now comes Plaintiff Haney seeking major damages from Defendant — The Sheriff Of Nottingham and his Greedy Bank Of Henchmen — aka Tour Commish Jay Monahan and his vast array of highly-compensated underlings, including a small army of barristers, also highly-compensated and prepared to defend the PGA Tour Castle against any and all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

The name  Hank Haney should be familiar to most in the world of golf.  He was Tiger Woods’ guy from 2004 to 2010, Tiger went to him on the recommendation of Mark O’Meara, a long-time Haney guy.  Back in 2012, Haney went to capitalize on his years with Woods, penning The Big Miss — a tell-all about his time with Eldrick.

Haney has been an in-demand instructor ever since, today it will cost you $15,000 for a day-long session with Hank.  His estimated net worth is in the $10 million range.

So back to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Haney alleges that the PGA Tour has “long attempted to disrupt and interfere in Haney’s business” following the release of “The Big Miss.” The suit also alleges that the firing cost Haney advertising revenue that “would have amounted to millions of dollars over the life of the agreement.”

The firing referred to is Haney’s dismissal from his Sirius XM radio show on the PGA Tour’s network.  The lawsuit says that the PGA Tour “improperly intimidated, enticed and threatened SiriusXM Radio to suspend and ultimately terminate” Haney’s show.  The lawsuit also said the tour “wanted to settle an old score relating to professional golfer Tiger Woods.”

Now Haney’s attorney of choice is Peter Ginsberg, no stranger to sports-related lawsuits.  Ginsberg represented Jonathan Vilma of the New Orleans Saints in the “Bounty-Gate” charges from the NFL  and he represented Ray Rice in Rice’s successful challenge to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s disciplinary authority.

“Ever since Hank had the courage to write his book about Tiger Woods, he’s been subjected to varying degrees of punishment by the PGA Tour,” said Haney’s attorney, Ginsberg said in an interview last Wednesday, “and I think Hank came to the conclusion that enough was enough.”

The lawsuit alleges the PGA Tour forced its Superstores and other shops to cancel orders of Haney’s book, and directed The Golf Channel  in 2013 to discontinue Haney’s TV show, the “Haney Project,” and later convinced sponsors to discontinue relationships with Haney.

“The PGA Tour, in my experience, is litigious and aggressive in lawsuits, so I can’t tell you it’s going to move along quickly,” added Ginsberg.

The Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka PGA Tour commish Monahan) won’t be happy to see Ginsberg in the lawsuit.

Ginsberg represented Vijay Singh against the PGA Tour, alleging the Tour violated its duty of fair dealing in administering its disciplinary process in The Great Deer Antler Spray caper.

According to the documents, Haney is seeking damages:   “for the harm the PGA TOUR caused when it improperly intimidated, enticed and threatened Sirius XMRadio, Inc. (SiriusXM) to suspend and ultimately terminate Haney’s radio broadcast on SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio station.”

Haney claims the Tour has “long attempted to disrupt and interfere in Haney’s business,” most notably regarding the release of his book about his time with Woods.

“At the time of the release in 2012, as the substantive content of the book became public through previews, the PGA Tour induced both ‘PGA Tour Superstores’ and ‘PGA Tour Shops’ to cancel previously placed orders of The Big Miss,” the lawsuit asserts. “Upon information and belief, the PGA Tour further induced smaller shops to back out of their preorders for the book.”

Ginsberg believes his client will prevail.

“We did everything we could to explore the facts and what we’ve put in the complaint are consistent with the facts,” Ginsberg said. “So if people are skeptical or questioning the animosity based on the book, all I can say is stay tuned, follow the lawsuit and I’m confident we’ll be able to prove the allegations.”

Should be interesting.  Singh’s suit was settled for a big chunk of change with both sides agreeing to say nothing about the settlement.

As Ginsberg said, stay tuned.

Editor’s Note:  Haney was originally suspended from his radio show for comments made before the women’s U.S. Open.  He predicted “A Korean” would win then said: “Probably a Kim or a Lee.”  He caught flak, apologized and was eventually terminated, which brings us to this week’s developments.