Does Pat Reed Need to Sue Greg Norman?

Patrick Reed started this month again in the spotlight as he takes his annual—or is it semi-annual?—plunge into the cheating-controversy spin cycle. This time, however, the controversy comes with the recent context of Reed taking legal actions against almost anyone who might say or write something unkind about him. It may not be Patrick himself but rather someone from his camp lobbing the lawsuits. It’s hard to imagine he even knows the score of which persons and organizations he’s actually sued. I had lost track, but some cursory research turned up suits against:

• Golfweek
• Gannett
• Eamon Lynch
• Golf Channel
• Damon Hack
• Shane Bacon
• Brandel Chamblee
• Hachette
• Shane Ryan
• The New York Post
• Fox Sports
• The Associated Press
• Doug Ferguson
• Zach Helfand of The New Yorker

And threats to sue against:

• Bob Costas
• Jake Tapper
• CNN for $450 million, if an apology was not issued

I think that’s a complete list, but I certainly could have missed a name or outlet or two.

Of course, the media can’t say whatever it wants and should be held to a standard of fair commentary and accurate reporting. Sometimes a lawsuit may be warranted! Plus, it’s no secret that journalists are not exactly the most popular cohort in this country. Even so, Reed’s recent legal actions have been almost universally unpopular.

The primary response has been amusement. People laugh at the lawsuits on social media. They dismiss them out of hand, given the source and subject and dollar amounts. It’s thought of as grist for the content mill and little more.

But there is a cost. No matter how frivolous or baseless you may think the suits are, there is no way some of the listed names or outlets did not pull up or adjust language or play it safer after getting sued. There had to be corporate lawyers holding their hand, telling them to mind their steps, keeping them in check, at least while the legal threats were still (*Slugger White voice*) “in play.” This is not to say the suits are going to work—just that they’re not completely ineffective, a point that might be lost in the laughter.

In all seriousness: P-Reed needs to be sanctioned, and his attorney should be disbarred. And every defendant should be counterclaiming for abuse of process.* This is absurd.

*If you have a damages claim against P-Reed, then SLIDE INTO THESE OPEN DMS

— Will Bardwell (@willbardwell) December 20, 2022

So there’s a limit to how much we should just giggle at all of this, and that came roaring into focus last week with the binoculars-boy incident in Dubai. The lawsuits have only further de-legitimized Reed and his camp as deluded radicals, increasing the scrutiny on them. But for the subjects of his lawsuits, there could be a chilling effect, a hesitancy to use the c-word when it’s warranted.

It’s clear that the Reeds’ thoughts and feelings and actions are not going to be changed. That’s a fruitless exercise. But using the right to sue as a weapon, however limited and laughable, should be stemmed, especially after Reed found himself again in the middle of real news that warranted critical analysis. It might be best to start with his employer, LIV Golf, to keep its player in check with all the off-course legal temper tantrums. Perhaps we need to ask LIV executives how they feel about an employee lobbing baseless suits at all manner of media companies, some of which were even in talks with LIV for a TV-rights deal. Because if Reed continues to embroil himself in rules kerfuffles and keeps suing everyone who says something critical or has attached the c-word to his name, then he’ll need to add his boss, Greg Norman, to the expanding list:

“I was watching it and I’m looking and I actually immediately text a tour official that I knew was there, immediately. ‘Hey, where are you?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m on the 11th green.’ [I said,] ‘Have you seen what’s going on?’ He said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘Get yourself into the NBC trailer right now and rewind that tape and just watch what Patrick Reed did.’ I said, ‘He’s improving his lie. He’s cheating.”