Jack Nicklaus Wins $50 Million Defamation Lawsuit After LIV Golf Claim By Former Company

A Florida jury awarded Jack Nicklaus $50 million in his defamation lawsuit against Nicklaus Companies on Monday.

The 18-time Major winner was suing the company he used to own after the business falsely claimed he had entertained a $750 million offer to become the public face of the LIV Golf League upon its launch in 2022.

Not only that, but Nicklaus also said his former business partners actively shared the fabricated claims with a number of media organizations - a move which damaged his reputation and, according to the jury, exposed the 85-year-old to “ridicule, hatred, mistrust or contempt.”

The Golden Bear had indeed met with Golf Saudi representatives in 2021, a meeting which Nicklaus' legal team proved was arranged by a Nicklaus Companies employee.

However, it was stated that Nicklaus only agreed to the meeting to discuss the possibility of designing a golf course. While there, the Columbus-born golfing icon found out that Golf Saudi wished to recruit him for a leadership position with LIV.

Outlined in court documents, Nicklaus flatly declined the offer. The documents read: "According to Nicklaus, he had no interest in the offer and declined because he considered the PGA Tour an integral part of his legacy; if the PGA opposed a rival league, he refused to participate."

Elsewhere in the suit, the 117-time pro winner said Nicklaus Companies officials had suggested he ultimately lacked the mental capacity to manage his business affairs and that he was suffering from dementia.

Although the jury found against Nicklaus Companies on both counts in a trial that lasted over two weeks, it cleared Howard Milstein - the billionaire banker who now owns the business - and executive Andrew O'Brien of personal liability.

Speaking to ESPN, Nicklaus' attorney Eugene Stearns said: "It's always hard in a defamation case to prove damages to reputation, because in particular for a guy like Jack, it's always such a good one.

"But I think what was important was the dispute that arose three-and-a-half years ago when the company told the world that Jack was selling out the PGA Tour for the Saudi golf, when it was not true. So, we're happy that Jack's been vindicated."

Nicklaus' legal quest arrived in response to an original suit by Nicklaus Companies made in New York during May 2022.

In 2017, a decade on from the 18-time Major winner's decision to fold his former company - Golden Bear International - into Nicklaus Companies, the Ohio State University alumnus retired from his executive role at the latter.

As a result of doing so, it triggered a five-year non-compete agreement which prevented Nicklaus from designing golf courses or endorsing products outside of his former business' portfolio.

Towards the end of that period, and while he was still on the board of Nicklaus Companies, Nicklaus sought arbitration to find out whether he could use his own name in business again.

It was at that point Nicklaus Companies filed the original suit against the ex-pro, accusing the golfing legend of breaching agreements and entertaining talks with LIV Golf.

Last July, an arbitrator in Florida ruled that Nicklaus was indeed no longer bound by the non-compete clause.

Then, in April of 2025, New York Civil Division Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen ruled that while Nicklaus had the right to use his own name, image and likeness, Nicklaus Companies owned the trademarks it purchased for $145 million back in 2007.

Consequently, Nicklaus Companies could carry on selling merchandise and equipment with Nicklaus' name, the "Golden Bear" moniker and associated logos.