Tiger Woods' Agent Threatens Lawsuit Over Cheating Accusations

Tiger Woods' Agent Threatens Lawsuit Over Cheating Accusations

Sports agents can be quite protective of the athletes they represent under talent agreements, as evidenced by a recent threat of legal action from Tiger Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg against Brandel Chamblee.

Steinberg recently released a statement to ESPN.com over insinuations made by Golf.com’s Brandel Chamblee, who accused Woods of cheating during his PGA Tour. Chamblee insinuated that the player cheated by recalling his own story of when he was dishonest on a grade school test and comparing it to Woods’ season. Former PGA player Chamblee made note of Woods’ high-profile rules violations and gave him a grade of “F” for the season.

“I remember when we only talked about Tiger’s golf,” Chamblee wrote. “I miss those days. He won five times and contended in majors and won the Vardon Trophy and … how shall we say this … was a little cavalier with the rules.”

Although Woods won five times this year on the PGA Tour and was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 11th time, he was also involved in four high-profile rules issues, three of which resulted in two-stroke penalties. Following the inflammatory accusation, Steinberg released a quick response, in which he said that taking legal action is a strong possibility.

“Brandel Chamblee’s comments are shameful, baseless and completely out of line,” Steinberg told ESPN. “In his rulings, Tiger voiced his position, accepted his penalty and moved on. There was no intention to deceive anyone. Chamblee’s uninformed and malicious opinions, passed on as facts, and his desperate attempt to garner attention is deplorable.”

While Steinberg did suggest that he might take legal action, he has not yet said under which grounds he would file a lawsuit. As Chamblee never directly accused the player of cheating, it may be challenging for Steinberg to prove wrongdoing.