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Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus was awarded $50 million by a Florida jury after suing Nicklaus Companies, his former company funded by billionaire Howard Milstein, for defamation.
The 18-time major champion sued the company after claiming Nicklaus was considering a $750 million deal to join LIV Golf and was no longer mentally fit to manage its affairs.
Nicklaus met with the Saudis in 2021 but said he turned down offers twice, according to Sports Illustrated.
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Jack Nicklaus speaks with his attorneys during a recess of closing arguments in Judge Reid P. Scott II’s courtroom at Judge Daniel TK Hurley’s courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, October 20, 2025. (THOMAS CORDY/PALM BEACH POST/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“The Saudis offered me something over $100 million, to do probably similar work to what Greg is doing,” Nicklaus said at the time. “I turned him 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 “was not interested in the offer and declined because he felt the PGA Tour was an important part of his legacy, and if the PGA was not supportive of a new league, he did not want to be involved,” according to ESPN.
Jack Nicklaus speaks to the media before 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 made up a story,” Nicklaus’ lawyer, Eugene Stearns, said in his closing argument, via the Palm Beach Post. “This story is a lie… What they wanted to create in the public mind is that Jack Nicklaus is an old man who sold himself to the Saudis.”
The Palm Beach Post said the jury found the defendants spread false information that damaged Nicklaus’ reputation and led to “ridicule, hatred, distrust, distrust or contempt.”
“It’s always difficult in a defamation case to prove reputational damage because, especially for a guy like Jack, it’s always a very good case,” Stearns added in a comment to ESPN. “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 to benefit Saudi golf, when that wasn’t true. So we’re happy that Jack was vindicated.”
Jack Nicklaus stands on the 18th hole during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. (Aaron Doster/Imagn Images)
Nicklaus, 85, is widely considered one of, and perhaps the greatest, golfers of all time, having won 73 events in total. His 18 majors are a record, three more than Tiger Woods, who is tied with Sam Snead for the most PGA victories with 82.
Nicklaus’ last major tournament was the 1986 Masters, which he won 24 years after his first.
