Tour: We Reserve The Right To Comment On Inaccurate Reports

Garry Smits called PGA Tour VP Ty Votaw for clarification of the tour's policy of not commenting on reports related to disciplinary cases and Votaw says the tour will continue the policy. But in this case the report on Dustin Johnson by golf.com was deemed inaccurate.

“We reserve the right to correct misinformation or reports that are inaccurate,” Votaw said. “That is what we did. The policy hasn’t changed.”

So say a media entity not of golf.com's stature reports a player suspension but the tour does not acknowledge the report perhaps because the entity in question is not widely seen, should we assume the report is accurate? Or say the PGA Tour does know of an inaccurate report, but simply finds the player not to their liking as an individual or as marketable?

There is also this from the Smits item regarding the PGA Tour seeing itself as different than other sports leagues:

“We differentiate because we think it’s appropriate,” Votaw said. “PHDs are about performance. Substance-abuse is about personal conduct, We think it’s appropriate to treat substance abuse in that manner.”

Where does marijuana fall in that delineation since many believe it is a performance enhancer?

Flashback: "Please give the kid a break.”

Ahhhh, nostalgia!

After the reports out of the new A-Rod book have Tiger Woods was getting three times as many house calls from Dr. Spaceman Galea  than everyone first admitted, I went back in the archives (four years!) to re-read about the old Doc Galea days.

I forgot about this from Don Van Natta Jr., Michael S. Schmidt and Ian Austen's original New York Times story outting the doc.

The doctor said he flew to Orlando, Fla., at least four times to give Mr. Woods the platelet therapy at his home in Windermere, Fla., in February and March of this year. When asked for comment about Mr. Woods’s involvement with Dr. Galea, Mark Steinberg, of I.M.G., responded in an e-mail message: “I would really ask that you guys don’t write this? If Tiger is NOT implicated, and won’t be, let’s please give the kid a break.”

Vijay’s Lawyers Getting Snippy!

Rex Hoggard with an update on the discovery process in Vijay Singh's lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

It seems Vijay's people do not feel they are getting everything they asked for.

“The apparent rationalization for the PGA Tour’s refusal to abide by its discovery obligations is that it wants to make one, and not an additional, production,” wrote Ginsberg in a letter dated April 11.

“The PGA Tour has no legal justification for its continuing refusal to produce indisputably relevant documents and information within the (Tour’s) custody and control which do not fall within the scope of the pending motion to compel.”

Vijay Gets Key Ruling, Lawyers Win!

The seemingly inevitable out of court settlement may be one step closer as Judge Eileen Bransten ruled that while Vijay Singh did sign up for most of the tour regulations related to the drug policy THAT HE VIOLATED, she sided with Singh on some players receiving different treatment, ensuring several hundred thousand more dollars in legal fees.

Doug Ferguson reports.

Rex Hoggard talks to Vijay's attorney and notes where he lost:

The court also sided with Singh – who sued the circuit last May following a brief suspension due to a violation of the Tour’s anti-doping program – over the Tour’s argument that because he agreed to the anti-doping program by signing his membership renewal form he was not entitled to further legal relief.

“Membership renewal forms addressing arbitration and waiver of judicial review do not provide a basis for dismissing the remaining causes of action,” Bransten wrote. “. . . (Singh’s) lack of recourse under the terms of the program further supports the conclusion that the doctrine of judicial noninterference is inapplicable.”

DJ On Vijay: "He’s in trouble, not me."

Jason Sobel talks to Dustin Johnson about a variety of issues, including fiance Paulina Gretzky and his name coming up in the lawsuit filings by Vijay Singh's attorney.

From Sobel's story:

A: There’s nothing I can really say. I don’t know why he would call me out. Obviously, he’s in a situation where he’s looking to better himself somehow, but there’s nothing there.

Q: Have you ever been punished or reprimanded for any kind of violation?

A: No.

Q: Does it anger you to see your name in connection with that story?

A: Not really. I don’t care. He’s in trouble, not me.

Tour Rebuffs Vijay's Discovery Request On Drug Policy Violations

Pete Madden of golf.com says PGA Tour lawyers have refused to grant Vijay Singh's discovery requests related to drug policy violations by other PGA Tour members.

Madden writes:

In a letter to Justice Eileen Bransten of the New York State Supreme Court, the Tour's attorney, Jeffrey Mishkin of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, called Singh's discovery requests "overreaching" and "irrelevant," arguing that "these individuals have nothing to do with this litigation. Mr. Singh cannot and should not be permitted, in the guise of discovery, to engage in a fishing expedition that risks further harm to the interests of these and any other third-party golfers."

Fun Times: Vijay v. PGA Tour Discovery Heating Up!

We had some idea where Vijay Singh's legal team was headed in their lawsuit against the PGA Tour earlier this month, and now Rex Hoggard says the discovery requests have begun.

And you'll be shocked to know they are not requesting the recipe for TPC Sawgrass' turkey dressing.

Singh’s lawyers requested any information “related to any positive tests by any golfer for any substance listed as a banned substance under the program, (and) any discipline imposed,” specifically anything related to a “possible or actual violation of the program” by Doug Barron, Mark Calcavecchia, Scott Verplank, Dustin Johnson and Matt Every.

In other words, a settlement check is right around the corner!

Will The PGA Tour's Secrecy Have Repercussions?

That's the theory of former PGA Tour Policy Board member Joe Ogilvie, quoted by Jeff Rude in assessing the latest moves in the Vijay Singh lawsuit and the Tour's refusal to comment. While a seemingly wise policy on paper, the accusations hurled by Vijay's attorney have an ounce of credibility only because the tour is so careful about not revealing much of anything.

Ogilvie says:

“If a player is suspended or subject to disciplinary action, he should know what the punishment was for others,” Ogilvie said. “That’s only fair. I would want to know, because how can I mount a defense if I don’t?

“It’s as if Tour communication is a state secret and if they allowed us to know their secrets, national security somehow would be undermined. If that’s the culture in this day and age, it’s going to bite you. We’re not in the 1970s and ’80s anymore. You just have to be more forthcoming.”

Vijay Asked To Sign New PGA Tour Membership Agreement?

Alex Miceli analyzes the revelations from the efforts by Vijay Singh's lawyers to stave off dismissal of his suit, which included suggestions (but no evidence) that the tour's drug policy is subjectively applied.

And there was this:

“Vijay Singh last week was literally walking onto the golf course. Someone from the PGA (Tour) came to him and gave him yet another adhesion contract where, not only did the PGA (Tour) try to force Mr. Singh to waive the very rights that we are seeking redress in this court, but more,” Ginsberg said. “The PGA (Tour) now wants Mr. Singh to waive his right to any medical privacy that he might have.”

Vijay's Lawyer: Tour Has Made Multiple Drug Policy Exceptions

Peter Ginsburg, Vijay Singh's attorney in the lawsuit against the tour over Vijay's since-revoked suspension, says he has evidence that the PGA Tour has been exempting players from testing and has chosen not to punish others for positive test results.

Ryan Ballengee reveals what was said in a court hearing last month.

“[O]ne of the elements of bad faith that we are prepared to show in this case, is that the PGA (Tour) has made exception after exception after exception, both with regard to whom it was administering this drug policy, and against whom it was disciplining, violators of the drug policy,” Ginsburg said in an Oct. 24 hearing on the PGA Tour’s motion to dismiss Singh’s lawsuit.

Ginsburg continued, “[F]or some reason, for some reason, for some reason, the PGA (Tour) singled out Mr. Singh and treated him in a way that it has not historically or uniformly treated other PGA (Tour) members.”

Gosh this is going to be so fun. Other than the truth coming out, who do you root for in this one?

Update on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 09:38 AM by Geoff

**Garry Smits has more from the hearing, including this comedic moment.

Early in the hearing, Mishkin said a characterization in Singh’s lawsuit that Tour players have no input into its rules and policies was wrong. Singh claimed that the Tour players have no “bargaining power,” such as unions in other professional sports.

“The players themselves govern the Tour, control the Tour,” Mishkin said, which is required under the legal definition of a 501 (c) (6) non-profit.

At the heart of the issue is the acceptance of players to comply with the Tour’s Anti-Doping Policy when they sign their annual membership agreement. The policy was approved by the 16-member Players Advisory Council and the nine-member PGA Tour Policy board, which has four player-directors.

My math says, nine directors, four are players. Control? Governing power? I think not.

Vijay Dismissing Tour Dismissal Of Dismissed Doping Violation

I think it's safe to say based on Rex Hoggard's report of the latest legal wrangling, the lawyers are winning.

"In the annals of golfing jurisprudence, Singh vs. the PGA Tour could be the most significant case ever brought."

It is Michael Bamberger's assertion that Vijay's case could "dwarf the old Ping grooves suit" though only in the sense that it has the potential to humiliate some peers, whereas the PING case was about equipment rulemaking.

He reveals that Doug Barron is now fully retired from golf and writing a "faith based" book that might reveal more about his case and settlement over a positive drug test. Barron was also instrumental in hooking Singh up with the attorney who thinks the PGA Championship is a PGA Tour run event.

Earlier this year, Horne offered an interesting insight into Barron's case. Horne said the Tour and Barron settled because, during the suit's discovery phrase, Barron was asking for every failed drug test the Tour had ever received, and the Tour "really didn't want to give that up."

Of course, there may or may not be failed tests. The lawyer representing the Tour in the Singh case, Rich Young of Colorado Springs, did not respond to an e-mail or a phone message. Young represented the Tour in Barron's suit as well.

Singh said in his suit he has been "humiliated, ashamed, ridiculed, scorned and [rendered] emotionally distraught" by the Tour. How he can be made whole by way of a lawsuit is not easy to imagine. It would seem unlikely that payment is his goal here.

If Singh's true goal is to force the Tour to release embarrassing information (that it may or may not even have), then the era of lawyers showing up on Golf Channel is only just beginning.