Jack Nicklaus has been awarded $50million (about £37million) after winning a defamation lawsuit against his old company related to allegations that he had considered a $750million deal to be the face of LIV Golf.
The 18-time major winner, 85, sued Nicklaus Companies after a previous suit in which officials claimed he had scheduled a meeting about fronting the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit. On Monday a jury in Palm Beach, Florida, found that Nicklaus Companies had published facts that exposed the golfing icon to “ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust or contempt”.
Nicklaus resigned from Nicklaus Companies in 2017 but was still subject to a five-year non-compete clause covering marketing and course-design rights. Nicklaus Companies’ 2022 suit alleged “a pattern of conduct to divert commercial opportunities for his own personal financial benefit”, and claimed the company’s reputation could also have been damaged by potential involvement with LIV, which it called “a controversial project”.
Nicklaus soaks up the atmosphere at the ceremonial tee off at the Masters earlier this year
BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS
Nicklaus counter-sued and claimed officials from Nicklaus Companies, owned by billionaire Howard Milstein, had spread false stories about him, including the suggestion he was mentally unfit to manage his own affairs and was suffering from dementia.
Eugene Stearns, Nicklaus’s attorney, said: “What they wanted to create in the minds of the public is Jack Nicklaus is an old guy who sold out to the Saudis.”
Stearns also denied that Nicklaus Companies chiefs had been forced to intervene to save the golfing icon from himself. Nicklaus had already admitted in a story on Fire Pit Collective in 2022 that he had turned down more than $100million to be LIV’s frontman. “Once verbally, once in writing,” Nicklaus told the media outlet. “I said, ‘Guys, I have to stay with the PGA Tour. I helped start the PGA Tour.’ ”
Nicklaus Companies’ legal team argued there had been no intention to smear Nicklaus and that the matter was merely a business dispute. The jury agreed that Milstein and another executive named in the suit, Andrew O’Brien, were not personally liable.
It ends an ugly saga. When Nicklaus Companies launched its breach-of-contract suit three years ago, the rift between the LIV start-up and the PGA Tour was at its most bitter.
Earlier this year a New York judge said Nicklaus could use his own name and image, while Nicklaus Companies retained rights to sell branded goods.
After the latest judgement, Nicklaus hugged friends and family members but made no comment. “Jack’s reputation has now been restored,” said Stearns.