Patrick Reed's Lawyer Tries To Silence Chamblee's Suggestions Of Cheating

While anyone who has played the game is uncomfortable with the actions of Patrick Reed—at best—his obvious effort to improve his lie at December’s Hero World Challenge has also involved behind-the-scenes efforts to squash free speech.

Eamon Lynch reports on a cease and desist letter Reed had his attorney send to Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee demanding and end to accusations of cheating.

“The purpose of this letter is to obtain assurance that you will refrain from any further dissemination, publication or republication of false and defamatory statements concerning Mr. Reed, including any allegations that he ‘cheated’ at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas,” wrote Peter Ginsberg, a partner at the New York City law firm of Sullivan & Worcester.

Ginsberg, who previously represented Ray Rice and has sued the PGA Tour on behalf of Vijay Singh and Hank Haney, confirmed to Golfweek that he represents Reed and sent the letter.

Chamblee’s comment drawing the most ire from Team Reed: “To defend what Patrick Reed did is defending cheating. It’s defending breaking the rules.”

Since the letter was sent in December, fans have continued to taunt Reed at the Presidents Cup and in his first 2020 PGA Tour start. Having served no suspension and having been deemed a gentleman for accepting his two-stroke penalty presumably for not trashing the scoring trailer, appears to have only outraged a majority of fans who value the integrity of professional golfers.

Sending such a letter on top of whatever other efforts Team Reed are pursuing behind the scenes would seem to only be keeping memories fresh of Patrick Reed’s recent and distant past issues with the law.

The rest of the story includes comment from Chamblee on the apparent claim by Reed’s lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, that video captured by Golf Channel cameras exonerated his client. This, even though it was the video that became the only way we learned of Reed’s nefarious actions.

GWAA: Writers Name Brooks Koepka, Jin Young Ko, Scott McCarron 2019 Players Of The Year

On the wings of his T2-1-2-T4 finish in the 2019 majors, Brooks Koepka was named the Golf Writers Association of America player of the year. Also on the ballot with Koepka were Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, who made strong cases for the award. But Koepka’s consistency in the majors ultimately got him the nod, it would seem.

McIlroy was named player of the year by his PGA Tour peers.

The full release:

KOEPKA, KO, MCCARRON VOTED 2019 GWAA PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

HOUSTON (January 7, 2020) – World No. 1 Brooks Koepka’s impressive record in last year’s majors propelled him to his second consecutive Golf Writers Association of America’s Player of the Year Award, while Jin Young Ko and Scott McCarron won their respective 2019 Player of the Year honors.

Koepka is the first player to win back-to-back since Tiger Woods won back to back in 2006-2007 (he also won in 2005).  Koepka got 44 percent of the vote to world No. 2’s Rory McIlroy’s 36 percent while Woods, who has won the Player of the Year honor 10 times, was third.

Koepka, who was sidelined with a knee injury in the fall, crushed the majors in 2019. In addition to winning his second consecutive PGA Championship, he finished in the top four at the other three majors. He was tied for second at the Masters, second alone at the U.S. Open and T-4 at The Open. In addition to the PGA, he won the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational and T-2 at the Classic, T-3 at the TOUR Championship and fourth at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

"I am extremely humbled to receive this award for a second year in a row,” said Koepka. “The GWAA does so much for the game we all love, so to be their Player of the Year again is a real honor.’’

Ko, in just her second season on the LPGA Tour, ran away with the Female POY race with Nelly Korda finishing a distant second. 

The South Korean star won four times, including two majors and swept every major LPGA award. She won the ANA Inspiration and Evian Championship and posted 12 top-10 finishes and ended the year winning the Rolex Player of the Year, the money title and Vare Trophy. Her 69.052 average was the second-lowest mark in LPGA history to Annika Sorenstam’s record of 68.697 in 2002.

She made headlines, too, for playing 114 holes without a bogey, besting Woods’ record by four holes.

"It is a great honor to win this prestigious award,” said Ko. “To be recognized by golf writers, who cover our sport of golf all year long, makes it even more special. I'm really proud and excited to be named alongside all the other recipients of this award in the past."

 McCarron won three tournaments and the Schwab Cup and had 14 top-10 finishes in 26 events to edge twin-tour wizard Steve Stricker. The 54-year-old McCarron won The Mitsubishi Electric, Insperity Invitational and Mastercard Japan.

 "To be selected Senior Player of the year by the Golf Writers Association of America is truly a great honor," said McCarron.

Koepka, Ko and McCarron will receive their awards at the 48th ISPS HANDA GWAA Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday April 8 in Augusta, Georgia.

One More Look At Key Stats From 2019

In the October Golfweek (not online), I looked at ten of the more intriguing stats from the PGA Tour season with help from ShotLink. One of those eye openers appeared in Golf Channel’s five “mind-blowing” stats from 2019, embedded below.

Since it’s natural this time of year to want to reflect on the season, I think you’ll enjoy Justin Ray’s 15th club rundown of best stats from 2019. He covers a wide range from the mens and women’s games

A couple that I enjoyed:

– Iron play proved to be pivotal again at Augusta National: Woods led the Masters field in strokes gained approach on his way to victory. Over the last five years, players to lead the Masters in that statistic have finished 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 1st.

It’s never too early to start factoring that into your 2020 Masters prognosticating.

And this was sensational for Scottish golf…I think. Then again, if it’s been this long maybe not…

– Before Robert Macintyre won the European Tour Rookie of the Year title, he laid claim to some remarkable Scottish golf history at The Open Championship. Bob finished tied for sixth at Royal Portrush, becoming the first Scottish player to finish top-ten in his Open debut since Andrew Kirkaldy… in 1879!

And Golf Channel’s for those more video inclined.

Reed: If I Had Cheated, "It would have been a really good lie, and I would have hit it really close''

Patrick Reed’s Presidents Cup press conference was carried live on Golf Channel and his attempt to answer questions about his Hero World Challenge run-in with the rules included an odd rationalization. From Bob Harig’s ESPN.com story on Reed’s remarks and the notion of cheating:

"It's not the right word to use,'' Reed said after a practice round at Royal Melbourne, where the Presidents Cup begins on Thursday. "At the end of the day, if you do something unintentionally that breaks the rules, it's not considered cheating, but I wasn't intentionally trying to improve a lie or anything like that. If I was, it would have been a really good lie, and I would have hit it really close.''

What an odd way to think.

Maybe Patrick’s new irons feature a sand shock absorption feature? Because I’m fairly confident no one who has played golf for any length of time would claim they are unable to see or feel the type of contact with the ground he displayed.

Video of the session, which includes Reed saying the matches are “personal” now that International team members have called him out:

P Reed pleads ignorance and says 'cheat' is "not the right word to use".

Adds "It's now turned from wanting to beat those guys to now turning personal... so it's gonna be a fun week." Hooboy. #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/4CqZHFKLj0

— Justin Falconer (@justinjfalconer) December 10, 2019

Meanwhile there was little sugarcoating of the Reed situation on last night’s Live From the Presidents Cup (video embedded below):

Brandel Chamblee – “In general, the team will have the appearance of a well-oiled machine, but deep down, the marrow of this team, they will be affected by this controversy. Their DNA as a team has been altered. There are no two ways about it.”

Chamblee – “I have never seen a more obvious breach of the rule than this. One that is not in any way – nobody who watches it in any way will be able to acquit him of what transpired [at Hero World Challenge]. His comments aside, this was a gross breach of the rule. The court of public opinion is a lot harsher than the rule book. The rule book is going to give him two shots. The court of public opinion is going to make him pay for this for a long time.”

Nobilo – “Public opinion says this is far more egregious, but the rule book disagrees with that. That is why were are almost in a double jeopardy situation. If there is anything positive that does come out of this situation, is that this rule is addressed going forward.”

Chamblee – “To have somebody on your team who so flagrantly abuses the rules of the game of golf, and there is no more sacred rule in the game of golf than play it as it lies. They [the U.S. Team] have a couple of hurdles against them. They are on foreign territory and now they have ceded the higher moral ground to the other team.”

Chamblee – “The whole team made a deal with the devil when he was chosen for the U.S. Team. All of the baggage that they thought was going to come with him has multiplied exponentially with what happened last week. I cannot imagine that Tiger Woods’ choices for teammates for Reed can be anybody other than just himself.”

Jaime Diaz – “Everything was smooth and safe but for one thing. He didn’t think he moved any sand. Players are too good and have too much feel to not have a sensation like that. It is just hard to believe. I think this is going to hang him up forever.”

Jim Gallagher, Jr. – “This week might be difficult for Patrick Reed and it could be difficult for his partners. That is the hard part. The captains are trying to deflect it and go forward, but I don’t know if it will keep deflecting because this is growing into a life of its own.”

Wow: Colonial Stop Raises $14 Million For Charity In 2020

The Charles Schwab Challenge’s (aka Colonial) first year raised a staggering some for a one-week event, reports the Star-Telegram’s Drew Davison.

He explains that most was on the back of players making birdies:

Much of the $14 million was generated through the tournament’s “Birdies For Charity” campaign. Charitable organizations solicit pledges from individuals and corporations for every birdie made during the tournament.

Pros made 1,111 birdies during tournament rounds, generating more than $13 million.

For some perspective, the NFL gives about $10 million in grants annually. Nothing to sneeze at, but also amazing given that a left-for-dead historic PGA Tour stop with a date following the PGA can generate more. In one week.

The First Tee of Fort Worth is the tournament’s primary beneficiary.

Golf Anonymous Players Poll: 40% Did Not Vote For Player Of The Year

While Rory McIlroy won 2019 Player of the Year in a landslide according to Golf.com’s Anonymous Player survey, the more damning reveal is just how many said they didn’t vote at all. Which, combined with the 10% that somehow found reason to vote for someone other than McIlroy or Koepka, means half frittered away the vote.

WHO GOT YOUR VOTE FOR 2019 PGA TOUR PLAYER OF THE YEAR?

Rory McIlroy: 33%

Brooks Koepka: 17%

Other: 10%

Didn’t vote: 40%

While this validates how many likely voted for McIlroy, it also does not do give much power to that whole “voted by his peers” argument.

Brandel: Koepka Was "Disrespectful" Toward McIlroy

I was hoping for something less level-headed, but Brooks Koepka’s good buddy Brandel Chamblee makes a solid case in refuting the World No. 1’s recent remarks. Saying he’s added “fuel to a rivalry that definitely exists,” Chamblee convinced me that Koepka’s “he hasn’t won a major in five years” jab was, in fact, disrespectful when viewed through the context of golf greats.

Koepka Sees No McIlroy Rivalry Based On Major Performance; Credits CJ Cup With His Life-Altering Wyndham Rewards Win

Daniel Hicks of AFP appeared to have an exclusive with world number one Brooks Koepka on Wednesday, who took assessed a rivalry with Rory McIlroy in comments that went viral.

"I've been out here for, what, five years. Rory hasn't won a major since I've been on the PGA Tour. So I just don't view it as a rivalry," Koepka told AFP ahead of his defence of the CJ Cup in Jeju, South Korea which begins on Thursday.

While Koepka’s tone tends to make people believe this is a swipe or right hook to the jaw, it seems more like his matter-of-fact approach than anything else. And he’s not wrong about McIlroy’s recent major record.

Less matter of fact was this painful effort to appease sponsors and sensors in PVB. From the interview transcript at the CJ Cup:

NICK PARKER: And honestly, this last year, getting the win started here helped you win the Wyndham Rewards and then also you had two eagles for the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge for another (inaudible.) How big is that, getting the season started right with both those and helped you along the way?

BROOKS KOEPKA: You've got to get off to a good start. To get off to a good start here is big. If you look at the Wyndham, the Aon, the FedEx, none of that happens without winning here, so you've got to play good every week. That's the beauty of the PGA TOUR. Every round does mean something whether you believe that or not. Even if you're back in 30th, 40th place, there's always something to play for and that's why I think Aon and Wyndham have done an incredible job of making every round, every shot mean something. That's important and that's what as pros you should be doing anyways. But it makes it fun for us coming down the stretch never really knowing what's going to go on, we've always got something else to play for.

Koepka, as you may recall, passed on the Wyndham Championship, as did most other top players, winning the Wyndham Rewards without actually playing the final event.

Brooks: "I have an athlete’s mentality, a true athlete, and if that rubs people the wrong way, tough."

The world No. 1 returns to action this week in Las Vegas, and Brooks Koepka is profiled by Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio.

He’s still brutally honest, though I’m not entirely clear what being a true athlete means…

“I’m not going to be someone else just to be more popular,” Koepka said. “I’m not your typical golfer, definitely not a golf nerd. I have an athlete’s mentality, a true athlete, and if that rubs people the wrong way, tough.

“I’m just going to say what I feel, I’m going to be honest and I’m not going to hold back. That’s who I am.”

Awkward Alert: Romo Opens Strong In Napa; A Made Cut Will Interrupt His CBS Work Sunday

In a contract year with CBS and rebelliously teeing it up during all-important NFL regular season, former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo opened the Safeway Open with a 70, his best PGA Tour round by far.

The possibility of a made cut has him potentially playing the weekend and missing his Vikings-Bears NFL assignment with Jim Nantz.

According to the New York Post, Boomer Esiason is slated to replace Romo.

While this is an awkward situation for CBS given Romo’s popularity as a broadcaster and his obvious passion to play golf over watch film of the Bears, imagine how the 74 PGA Tour pros who were beat by Romo feel? Granted, the field includes a few retreads and folks you didn’t know have tour status, but Romo’s T28 position has him well ahead of several major winners.

From Adam Schupak’s Golfweek report in Napa:

That would prevent him from doing his day job commentating for CBS Sports on the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on Sunday.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Romo said with a smile.

Romo is playing this week as the lone amateur in the 144-man field, and had players buzzing about his round.

“It’s bloody impressive,” said Adam Scott, who held a share of the lead after shooting 65. “I ain’t ever going to throw a pass in the NFL, that’s for sure, so I think it’s unbelievable that he can do that.”

Romo tees off at 1:25 Pacific, putting him in a good portion of Golf Channel’s broadcast window.

Putting The (Miniscule) New Skins Game Purse Into Perspective

Just a few weeks ago, the FedExCup’s $15 million first prize reached a level of excess that appeared to not resonate with fans as expected.

The original Skins Game, a really important event for many years as a the dreaded “grow the game” staple, but also simply as good entertainment. Don’t forget, in the 1984 Skins, Jack Nicklaus made a putt for $240,000 and threw his putter to the sky.

“Even old unemotional Jack got excited,” a smiling Nicklaus said. “I threw my putter high in the air because . . . well, it was exciting.”

While purse strength is rarely of interest to fans, dollar figures are vital in Skins because the amounts can add up. That builds tension and the entire point of Skins is to have carry overs and big putts for big dollars. The format also ends up having players take different rooting interests in the name of friendly competition.

In other words, Skins is dependent on a purse that gets the attention of players. This is no easy task in today’s game and likely why the annual Thanksgiving weekend event stopped attracting top stars.

So it was a little strange to read that the first real stab at Skins from “GolfTV Powered By The PGA Tour” will feature a lower purse than the 1983 Skins Game. Given that the “golf Netflix” international streaming channel has committed to a multi-billion investment in distributing the PGA Tour internationally, the Tiger-Rory-Jason-Hideki launch event is their first high profile property in eight countries. Playing for $350,000 over 18 holes is modest, at best. With the last hole worth $100,000, that leaves only $10,000 per hole for the first six.

A $360,000 purse—the first Skins bankroll-is just under $1 million in 2019 dollars.

Not surprisingly, the paltry purse went unmentioned in GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour’s press release and was only reported on by AP’s Doug Ferguson.

FYI, last place at this year’s Tour Championship was $395,000.

Furthermore, the head man at Discovery, purveyor of GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour, enjoyed a compensation package valued at $129.4 million in 2017. That means David Zaslav made more per-day in 2018 than the four players will compete for in this new Skins.

Zaslav’s 2017 compensation totaled $42.4 million in cash and stock options, meaning his pay every three days is the same amount as GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour’s initial Skins Game purse.

Tiger is there as part of his GOLFTV Powered By The PGA Tour deal. The other players are undoubtedly earning some nice appearance money, but GOLFTV Powered by the PGA Tour will not be televising movement of that money from their coffers to the players. Nor do we tune in to watch a wire transfer.

When it’s a Skins Game, we want to see them facing putts that prompt putter tosses and excitement.

Cameron Champ Returns To Scene Of His Breakthrough Win Humbled, Healthy Again

Cameron Champ

A year ago the longest driver in professional won the Sanderson Farms and returns this week having struggled most of the time since due to back issues and a balky short game.

GolfDigest.com’s Brian Wacker profiles Cameron Champ, who has plenty of interesting things to say about his experience since being the breakout player of fall 2018.

Rarely is the road so smooth for seasoned players used to navigating it, never mind a rookie suddenly thrust into the spotlight while still trying to learn new courses each week not to mention the rigors of treating a game like the job it had become. Over his next 19 starts after a T-11 at the limited-field event Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Champ missed the cut 10 times and withdrew once.

“Expectations,” Champ says when asked as he gets set to defend his title this week in Mississippi what the most difficult thing was for him in his first year. “Whether you realize it or not, they’re always going to be there.

“Once you get to a certain point—and Matt and Collin are going through this now—it’s all new. You’re suddenly playing in featured groups, have a lot of people following you, you’re dealing with crowds and comments. It’s not anything I ever played in.”

17-Year-Old Akshay Bhatia To Test Boundaries Of Pro Golf's Youth Movement

While he has picked the third weakest PGA Tour field of 2019 with only four world top 50 players and no one inside the top 40, Akshay Bhatia is still moving into bold territory leaping from junior golf to professional play.

The 17-year-old turns up fresh off a Walker Cup appearance to debut in the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms. He’s got a new Callaway deal, new woods, maybe a new putter and high expectations for a player jumping from the junior circuit to a PGA Tour event.

“Akshay is one of the most prolific amateurs the golf world has seen in a long time, and we’re thrilled to have him join our Professional TOUR Staff,” said Tim Reed, Senior Vice President of Global Sports Marketing at Callaway Golf, in a press release.

Bhatia has one previous appearance in a Tour event and one Korn Ferry Tour cut made as an amateur, but has long targeted a pro debut in lieu of college golf.

Bhatia generates plenty of speed:

View this post on Instagram

@akshaybhatia_1 getting ready for pro debut this week 💦💦💦

A post shared by George Gankas (@georgegankasgolf) on Sep 17, 2019 at 4:55pm PDT

I would agree with Morning Drive’s Damon Hack that too many cautionary tales are getting lost in the rush to push players into cashing checks at a young age.

View this post on Instagram

Too much too soon? @damonhackgc gives his take on young PGA pros, let us know what you think!

A post shared by Golf Channel's Morning Drive (@gcmorningdrive) on Sep 17, 2019 at 8:15am PDT

Rory Hoping This Rivalry Is Finally The One

There is plenty of great stuff from the latest Rory McIlroy podcast with Carson Daly in the latest installment of his Golfpass contributions.

Golfweek’s Roxanna Scott highlights his comments on creating a rivalry to raise his game at the 2019 Tour Championship.

Finally, it seems maybe McIlroy has met his rivalry match after years of flirtations.

“Brooks has been undoubtedly the best player in the world for the last couple years. I’ve been lucky that my career and my consistency level has been good for the last 10,” McIlroy said. “I feel like they’ve tried to create a rivalry between myself and Tiger, myself and Jordan (Spieth), myself and Dustin (Johnson), myself and Brooks, myself and Jason Day.

“It’s nice there’s a common denominator and it’s usually me, which means that I’m doing something right.”

As for the rivalry mindset, this was interesting:

“I needed that mentality going into East Lake because, you know, there was a little bit of revenge in there. He talked about trying to be the dominant player in the game and that was said to me in the media and I said, ‘He’s going to have to go through me first.’

“If that’s both of our mentalities going forward, I think that’s good for the game.”

Daly responded, “I love that. That’s what you should say. If you didn’t say that, you’ve got a problem. As a fan, that’s what you want to see.”

You can listen to the Rory & Carson podcast wherever fine pods are given away for free. Here is the iTunes store link.

Ponte Vedra: “What’s not up for debate is the Tour’s integrity — in this process or otherwise.”

The PGA Tour is pushing back at transparency deficiencies, including this from Alex Miceli noting that we even know vote totals in Russian elections but not in the PGA Tour Player Of The Year race.

Josh Berhow at Golf.com contacted the Tour and was provided the Player of the Year ballot and was told the voting process by the PGA Tour’s Laura Neal. Why this wasn’t disclosed before, I have no idea.

Neal said the ballot is delivered electronically to eligible voters — players who have played in at least 15 events. The completed ballots go directly to the Tour’s accounting firm, Grant Thornton.

A Proud Partner at The Players won by Player of the Year Rory McIlroy, btw.

Employees there tabulate the votes without Tour supervision and send the results to the Tour. The process is broadly similar to how Academy Award votes are tabulated.

“Feel free to debate whether the PGA Tour membership should have voted Rory or Brooks as Player of the Year,” Neal wrote in an email Friday. “What’s not up for debate is the Tour’s integrity — in this process or otherwise.”

Exactly. It’s not like Tour recently waited until the afternoon to send a 30 player field out in Atlanta with afternoon thunderstorms predicted and people almost died!