Reed's lawyer tried to silence Chamblee after 'cheating' scandal
Patrick Reed's lawyer attempted to silence highly critical analyst Brandal Chamblee after the sand-sweeping incident at the Hero World Challenge in early December, according to Golfweek's Eamon Lynch.
The Golf Channel broadcaster frequently referred to Reed's controversial maneuver in the waste area as an act of "cheating." Chamblee was sent a cease and desist letter from Reed's attorney to stop accusing his client of deliberately breaking the rules.
"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 Reed's lawyer Peter Ginsberg.
Reed was caught on camera removing sand from behind with two practice swings and was assessed a two-shot penalty for improving his line of play. Reed denied knowing he moved any sand and pointed to the camera angle for making his actions appear worse than they were.
Ginsberg cited a Dec. 9 appearance on Golf Channel as the reason for the letter where Chamblee said: "To defend what Patrick Reed did is defending cheating. It's defending breaking the rules."
Chamblee received the letter on Dec. 13. In it, Ginsberg wrote: "Indeed, as you should know, and presumably do know but chose to ignore, if the PGA Tour believed that Mr. Reed had intentionally violated any rule, he would have been disqualified from the tournament rather than assessed a two-stroke penalty," Ginsberg said. "Everyone involved agrees that Mr. Reed acted unintentionally, and the tape of the incident fully supports that conclusion."
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan recently defended Reed and said he believes he never intended to intentionally improve his lie or line of play.
Chamblee is not expected to comply with the demands of Reed's attorney and continued to defend his stance on the matter.
"My job is to be accurate in my analysis and I weigh my words heavily," Chamblee told Golfweek. "Nothing I said on the air did I say flippantly. I thought about how exactly to say it to get closer to the larger point about the traditions of the game. That’s the origin of my remarks. They had no malice. They were meant to be accurate and admonishing about the decay of the traditions of the game. Instead of self-policing, it's catch-me-if-you-can. And that bothers me."