Report: Patrick Reed’s lawyer tries to muzzle Brandel Chamblee

Golf Channel analyst receives cease-and-desist letter to stop saying PGA Tour player 'cheated,’ Golfweek reports

The attorney for PGA Tour player Patrick Reed sought to stop Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee from saying that Reed “cheated” at last month’s Hero World Challenge, Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch reported.

Patrick Reed :: (© GOLFFILE/KEN MURRAY)

Golfweek cited a copy of the letter, which attorney Peter Ginsburg, a partner at the New York law firm Sullivan & Worcester, confirmed sending. The letter, dated Dec. 13, was sent on Day 2 of the Presidents Cup, in which Reed struggled to a 1-3-0 record in the Americans’ 16-14 victory against the Internationals.

During the third round of the Hero World Challenge at Albany in the Bahamas, Reed was penalized two strokes after he was found to have brushed sand from behind his ball while in a waste area, thus improving his lie. It was a violation of Rule 8.1a(4). Reed disputed the ruling, and some fans have responded by heckling him in recent starts.

Chamblee told Golfweek’s Lynch: “My job is to be accurate in my analysis, and I weigh my words heavily. 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.”