WEST PALM BEACH — Rather than try to catch 85-year-old golf legend Jack Nicklaus in contradictions, attorneys for the men he’s suing leaned instead into admiration.
“You know how hard it is to cross-examine the greatest golfer of all time?” said Barry Postman on Oct. 16. “Do you know how hard that is? I grew up watching you play. I had your book when I was a kid.”
“It should be hard,” Nicklaus said from the witness stand, prompting jurors and Postman himself to laugh.
Nicklaus is suing billionaire banker Howard Milstein and executives at the Nicklaus Cos. for allegedly spreading false stories that he secretly negotiated a $750 million deal to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League and was no longer mentally fit to manage his affairs.
His lawyers say those rumors, first included in a lawsuit the company filed against him in New York, were repeated by dozens of outlets and celebrated privately by the same executives who had once been his partners.
Attorneys for Milstein, O’Brien, and the Nicklaus Cos. say the group never sought to smear him, noting that the New York complaint was filed quietly on a Friday evening.
“If the company was actually interested in negative publicity, it would have been very easy to just send out a press release,” defense lawyer Gary Malone told the court this year.
Despite contentious pretrial court filings, the tone of Nicklaus’s defamation trial, which began Sept. 29, has been anything but hostile. The defense did not work to diminish Nicklaus or undermine his credibility, as is common during cross-examinations, but instead tried to prove his reputation remains untarnished.
Hired to defend against Nicklaus’ defamation allegations, Postman worked at lenght to build the Golden Bear up. He reminded Nicklaus and the jury that he still hosts the Memorial Tournament, still appears on television, still earns appearance fees to lend his name to golf courses.
“People pay you to show up,” he said. “That’s the mark of someone who still commands respect.”
When Nicklaus demurred at being called the “greatest of all time,” the lawyer replied, “I appreciate your modesty.”
“But from all outward appearances,” he continued, “your impact on the golfing word today remains extremely strong.”
“I hope so,” Nicklaus said.
Every question underscored that point: that the man suing for reputational harm still commands respect from fans, media networks and corporate sponsors, and is, according to Postman, as beloved as ever.
“Even after the allegations that are the subject of this case,” the attorney said, “you’re still asked to appear on national television, still invited to host tournaments, still recognized worldwide. That’s a testament to your reputation, isn’t it?”
“That’s not for me to say,” Nicklaus answered.
At one point, Postman asked whether Adam Sandler’s invitation for Nicklaus to appear in the film Happy Gilmore 2 was evidence of his enduring relevance. Nicklaus, as he did throughout, resisted the premise. “I don’t think that’s for me to determine,” he said.
He paused for a moment to tell Circuit Judge Reid Scott that the movie is “actually funny” — a point Postman suggested he could impeach the golfer on.
The exchange drew more laughter, but its purpose was strategic. If Nicklaus’s image remains unscathed — if he continues to be the “GOAT,” or greatest of all time, as Postman called him more than once — then his claim that Milstein’s actions damaged his brand loses force.
Closing arguments in the trial are expected to begin at 9 a.m. on Oct. 20.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Defense flatters golf legend Jack Nicklaus in defamation trial, says reputation is golden
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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