Jack Nicklaus gets $50 million over false LIV Golf defamation claims

Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus was awarded $50 million by a Florida jury after suing Nicklaus Companies, his former company financed by billionaire Howard Milstein, for defamation.

The 18-time major champion sued the company after it claimed Nicklaus was considering a $750 million deal to join LIV Golf and was no longer mentally fit to manage his business affairs.

Nicklaus met with the Saudis in 2021 but said he had turned down offers twice, according to Sports Illustrated. 

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Jack Nicklaus talks with his attorneys during a recess in closing arguments in Judge Reid P. Scott II’s courtroom at the Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Oct. 20, 2025. (THOMAS CORDY/PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

“I was offered something in excess of $100 million by the Saudis, to do the job probably similar to the one that Greg is doing,” Nicklaus said at the time. “I turned it down. Once verbally, once in writing. I said, ‘Guys, I have to stay with the PGA Tour. I helped start the PGA Tour.'”

The lawsuit said Nicklaus “had no interest in the offer and declined because he felt the PGA Tour was an important part of his legacy, and if the PGA was not in favor of a new league, he did not want to be involved,” according to ESPN.

Jack Nicklaus addresses the media prior to the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 4, 2024, in Dublin, Ohio. (Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

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“These are the people who planted a story,” Nicklaus’ attorney, Eugene Stearns, said in his closing argument, via the Palm Beach Post. “The story is a lie. … What that they wanted to create in the minds of the public is Jack Nicklaus is an old guy who sold out to the Saudis.”

The Palm Beach Post said that the jury found the defendants spread false information that damaged Nicklaus’ reputation that led to “ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust, or contempt.”

“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,” Stearns added in a comment to ESPN. “But I think what was important was the dispute that arose 3½ 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.”

Jack Nicklaus stands on the 18th hole during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.  (Aaron Doster/Imagn Images)

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Nicklaus, 85, is widely considered one of, and perhaps the greatest, golfers of all time, having won 73 total events. His 18 majors are the most ever—three more than Tiger Woods, who is tied with Sam Snead for the most PGA wins with 82.

Nicklaus’ last major was the 1986 Masters, which he won 24 years after his first.

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