A few months ago we learned Patrick Reed, with the help of infamous attorney Larry Klayman, filed a defamation lawsuit in Texas seeking $750 million+ in damages from Golf Channel and Brandel Chamblee.
Here was our takeaway at the time, for a refresher on just how seriously any of this should be taken:
In all, it’s just an absolutely incredible window into just how far gone Patrick Reed truly is at this point. It’s been apparent for a long time now that he’s surrounded with people who are either actively and maliciously exploiting him for their own gain or enabling his own impossibly dickish impulses. In Klayman, #TeamReed has finally found a perfect legal match, someone willing to take their money and try and push an impossibly stupid case in court.
It will go nowhere, the money will be burned, and there’s a chance some PGA Tour discipline records get exposed as part of the discovery process (which can only add to the potential hilarity here.)
News broke late on Wednesday night that Reed had actually withdrawn his lawsuit, which for about an hour felt like a rare moment of wisdom. Then we learned that Reed had re-filed in Florida, while also adding new parties as defendants in Golf Channel broadcasters Damon Hack and Shane Bacon, along with Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch.
UPDATED: Patrick Reed refiles $750 million defamation suit, moving case to U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and adds Damon Hack, Shane Bacon, Eamon Lynch to claim https://t.co/XlCkoMKfHw
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) September 29, 2022
It can’t be stressed enough how impossibly stupid this is. There’s virtually zero chance Reed’s lawsuit will succeed in Florida or anywhere else, and re-filing feels like a sign Klayman and company knew they were going to be dismissed in their original Texas district. Where, amusingly, the judge was an avid golfer who was known for being strict with the rules of the game.
You don’t need to have gone to law school to recognize what’s happening here.
Just a reminder that the Houston judge was known as a Rules of Golf stickler. Florida, here come the Reeds! https://t.co/3uSk8BezYH
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) September 29, 2022
This lawsuit is, barring some wildly misapplied legal statutes (unlikely even in Florida), not going to work for Reed. It’s now dragging in other members of golf media who have done nothing but their jobs. What an enormous waste of time for everyone involved.
Think of all the horrible people in sports media who say the most ridiculous, baseless, childish, insulting things about athletes on a regular basis. Now think of how pretty much every single one of those instances didn’t result in the athlete filing a defamation lawsuit against entire networks and specific talent and you have a great example of how, even among the most delusional, oversensitive members of professional sports, Patrick Reed and his entire group manage to stand out singularly.
