Just when you think the LIV stuff couldn't get any wackier....
Teegate - By now you've heard the news from the Middle East:
Various (and vague) reports had emerged suggesting McIlroy had snubbed Reed’s attempted handshake, a move that had provoked the American reportedly into throwing a tee in the Irishman’sdirection. Or merely to the ground in frustration at McIlroy’s reluctance to engage, depending on what (if anything) you believe in this mini-saga.“I didn't see it,” was McIlroy’s initial response. “Patrick came up to say hello and I didn't really want him to. That was it. I didn't see a tee. I didn't feel a tee. Obviously someone else saw that. I can't believe it's actually turned into a story. It's nothing.“I was down by my bag, and he came up to me,” McIlroy attempted to explain. “I was busy working and sort of doing my practice. I didn't really feel like … I didn't feel the need to acknowledge him. And if roles were reversed and I'd thrown that tee at him, I'd be expecting a lawsuit. So no, I didn't see, it. My back was turned to him.”
Well, the Tour had figuratively turned its back on so many of Reed's antics, that who can blame the Ulsterman? This, as no doubt you've heard, was the issue for Rors:
“I got a subpoena on Christmas Eve,” said McIlroy, receiving it from an attorney who is representing Reed in a handful of anti-defamation cases against members of the golf media. The subpoena given to McIlroy, however, is believed to be part of a separate case not involving Reed that alleges that McIlroy, Davis Love III and Tiger Woods are co-conspirators in the PGA Tour’s antitrust scheme to destroy the LIV Golf League.“I was trying to have a nice time with my family. If someone shows up on your doorstep and delivers that, you're not going to take that well. I'm living in reality. I don't know where he [Reed] is living. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't expect a hello or a handshake. I don't see how you can pretend like nothing's happening.”
Patrick explains:
When Reed was found on Wednesday and asked to tell his side of the story, he noted that he hadn’t seen McIlroy or his caddie Harry Diamond yet this year so he wanted to say hello. “Because of the relationship I've had with Rory … let's be honest, we've had some great battles at Augusta and other tournaments and our friendships been pretty good up until obviously joining LIV," Reed told the Daily Mail.Reed continued by saying Harry shook his hand but Rory just looked down there and was messing with his Trackman (device) and kind of decided to ignore us. We all know where it came from—being part of LIV. Since my tees are Team Aces LIV tees I flicked him one. It was kind of a funny shot back. Funny how a small little flick has turned into basically me stabbing him and throwing a tee at him."He saw me and he decided not to not to react," Reed told the Daily Mail. "It's unfortunate because we've always had a good relationship … But it is one of those things—if you're going to act like an immature little child then you might as well be treated like one.”
Well, on the subject of immature little children, we do need to acknowledge Patrick's lifetime achievement award, but still.... What had Rory pissed is not at all tied to LIV, but rather a score-settling effort from PReed that has no chance of success, but will inconvenience his peers.
While the name-calling will justifiably draw the pixels, this is the Reed comment that drew my eye, it being his signature move:
Reed claimed the subpoena had nothing to do with him.
Nothing ever does have anything to do with him, unless it's a personal slight he can whine about. Yanno, like being paired with Tiger at the Ryder Cup.....
Now, there does seem to be confusions about the actual underlying lawsuit. Amusingly, Dylan Dethier feels compelled to do a forensic analysis of this issue and, while it's not Patrick's defamation lawsuit against Brandel, et.al., Patrick is in no way off the hook:
Wait. Reed’s suing Rory?!No, but I see how you would have gotten there — especially given it feels like Reed’s suing everybody these days — but the devil’s in the details here. McIlroy was served on behalf of Reed’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, but not for one of Reed’s personal suits. This was Klayman vs. the PGA Tour. Still, it’s clear that McIlroy isn’t a huge Klayman fan. As a result, I don’t think he and Reed will be splitting a summer house anytime soon.He really got served on Christmas Eve?Sure did! At his house at 3:50 p.m. on 12/24, according to this affidavit — which was originally posted by Klayman himself.
Are you confused? Yeah, so am I, but apparently Mr. Klayman has taken time from his core business of filing frivolous defamation lawsuits against Golf Channel contributors for their temerity in offering opinions, to file this on behalf of an oppressed class:
A consumer class-action lawsuit has been filed against America's main professional golf organizer, PGA Tour, for allegedly colluding with DP World Tour and other entities to restrain competition from newcomer rival LIV Golf Tour.Chairman and general counsel of Freedom Watch, Inc., Larry Klayman, filed the lawsuit as "Klayman v. PGA Tour et. al" in the 15th Judicial Circuit for Palm Beach County, Fla.The PGA Tour and its partners are accused by the lawsuit of "monopolization, market division, refusal to deal (aka group boycott) and civil conspiracy," according to a press release. The lawsuit also targets PGA Tour commissioners Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley as co-conspirators.
Care for a taste?
Using the phony pretext of Saudi financing of the LIV Golf Tour (as the PGA Tour and DP World Tour also significantly benefit from a huge amount of Saudi and Middle Eastern money) these defendants have, through their anti-competitive actions, harmed Florida consumers who would attend PGA Tour and it’s admitted partner DP World Tour golfing tournaments and events, by suspending and fining professional golfers who were formerly on these golf tours, simply because they signed up to play in LIV Golf Tour tournaments and events." Klayman says in his press release regarding the lawsuit.
And who brought Klayman into this mess? That would be one PReed.....
I was at dinner with a golf buddy last week, during which we both agreed that we'd love to be a fly on the wall at The Masters Champions Dinner, and that was before this flare-up. I just can't even imagine the interpersonal dynamics that will be on display there, although Patrick would remind us that Rory will be dining elsewhere that Tuesday evening.
Geoff, in his Thursday Quad freebie, had these thoughts:
Reed has been invited to the 2023 Masters but it’s unclear if this guarantees a seat at the Champions Dinner table. There appears to be no precedent for asking a former champion to stay home, but then again, Herman Keiser also never hired a lawyer who was also in the process of harrassing Jimmy Demaret on Christmas eve or any other day of the week.The least Chairman Fred Ridley can do is ask Reed to stay away from the dignified evening. That would allow Woods and other former champions to enjoy a well-deserved annual celebration where the only question about getting served will be answered when they see what’s on defending champion Scottie Scheffler’s menu.
I don't think there's any appetite for that, although Reed's defamation lawsuit would, I think, provide a logical cause. It's truly so beyond the pale, attacking commentators and compelling the involvement of other valued Augusta participants, that I think that casus belli is there, and can clearly be separated from the issue of LIV v. the PGA Tour. Again, I don't think Fred wants anything to do with this, but hold this thought because we have more below.
So, while Rory won't be there Tuesday night, this other guys will. And Geoff has a funny bit about Larry Klayman trying to serve Tiger:
Reed’s attorney has been less “successful” serving five-time Masters Champion Tiger Woods. We know this because Klayman issued a press release saying so, with the process server’s notes explaining how Woods has eluded her:
It so happens there was this one curious bit about that subpoena served on Rory:
Please tell me that’s all there is to the subpoena story?Of course not; the name of the process server was “Shark Process,” which really is just the chef’s kiss on this mess.
Kids, you can't make this s**t up.... I myself was not familiar with that expression, but apparently it's a thing:
A gesture in which the fingers and thumb of one hand are pinched together, kissed, and then blown away, signifying that something is delicious or exquisite.
Now we know.
LIV v. Augusta National - One interesting sidebar of the ongoing antitrust litigation is the extent to which LIV seems to be targeting Augusta National:
According to court documents released Monday, LIV Golf’s lawyers have served subpoenas tosix current or former PGA Tour policy board directors as well as former commissioner Tim Finchem. Buried in a joint statement between LIV and those figureheads were allegations lobbed by LIV against various members of Augusta National, which seems to be one of LIV’s new focuses. One of the initial requests included in each subpoena to those members was an overarching demand:Please produce “All Communications between You and any member of Augusta National relating to a New Tour, including but not limited to LIV Golf.”
For some reason, this reminds me of this famous exchange from Casablanca:
Major Strasser : Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris?
Rick : It's not particularly my beloved Paris.
Heinz : Can you imagine us in London?
Rick : When you get there, ask me!
Captain Renault : Hmmh! Diplomatist!
Major Strasser : How about New York?
Rick : Well there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.
It's a funny position the LIVsters find themselves in. I'm sure they initially fooled themselves into thinking that playing on LIV vs. the PGA Tour was just like deciding whether to play the Waste Management vs. playing at Pebble, and that they'd continue to be welcome as conquering heroes. Obviously a very naïve take, but then you turn around and suddenly a war with Augusta National is being waged in your name. Saying you have nothing to do with it just won't cut it....
This seems to be the flash point with LIV v. ANGC:
Much of the allegations in the statement remain confidential, but ANGC members Condoleezza Rice — the former Secretary of State — and Warren Stephens were listed by LIV as having “apparently attempted to influence the DOJ (Department of Justice) to not investigate the [PGA] Tour.” Whether or not that is true — the complaints flying back and forth are highly contested by each side — the DOJ has launched an investigation into the PGA Tour for potential anti-competitive practices, as it has also done with both the USGA and Augusta National.
To this observer, the initiation of that DOJ antitrust investigation remains one of the most curious and unexplained threads in this story. The timing seemingly was tied to Biden begging the Saudis to pump more oil, but we all know that the "pariah state" told him to pound sand. But, given LIV's ties to Trump, why would Biden's DOJ seek to help LIV, other than the need for more of their evil carbon-based energy?
But the charge that Condi attempted to influence the DOJ seems to this observer crazy, if only because I can't imagine that Condi would have any juice with the DOJ.
You can sort through all of the ANGC members whose communications are being sought, though this seems rather relevant:
The lawsuit is an antitrust case wherein LIV has accused the PGA Tour of organizing a “group boycott” with other governing bodies like Augusta National, the DP World Tour, the PGA of America, the USGA and the R&A. Within its initial complaint, LIV alleged that representatives from Augusta National launched an anti-LIV campaign, threatening to disinvite LIV players from future Masters tournaments if they joined the upstart league.The PGA Tour policy board directors made their case as well in the joint statement, led by Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist and partner at Bond Capital. LIV’s theory that the Tour “seeded doubt” among top golfers that they’d be banned “is entirely baseless as demonstrated by the fact that the Masters has allowed LIV golfers to compete in the 2023 Masters,” Meeker’s statement read. It was just one month ago that Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley announced that any players already qualified for the 2023 tournament would be invited to play.
I wonder where LIV is going with all this.... Yeah, there might be some useful nuggets in these e-mails, but the larger issue is the timeline. These discovery battles all take time, and time is the one thing LIV is short on (OK, not only thing, as they're quite obviously short on golfing talent as well).
And then there's this remind from Geoff about that executive reorganization at LIV:
We also learned from Harig’s report that Greg Norman is assuming an even greater role in LIV operations after Golf Saudi’s Majed Al-Sorour was demoted to a board seat.
These guys say a lot os stupid things, not least this from Al-Sorour:
The “time” became right following Al-Sorour’s infamous remarks to The New Yorker’s Zach Helfand. That’s where he said he would “create my own majors for my players” if the championships banned LIV players.
Hard to see why the folks at Augusta National wouldn't cotton to these folks. As is usually attributed to Machiavelli, If you're gonna take a shot at the King, you better kill him.
But by far the most amusing part of this is that those taking the shot at the King, expect to be warmly embraced for their efforts. The will more likely find themselves pariahs, which seems to come as quite the shock.
I've got more of everything except time.... I will probably not blog tomorrow, as I have a call scheduled, but there could even be some weekend blogging depending upon snow and my skiing schedule. Always good to check back early and often.
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