Imagine late afternoon on December 24, 2022, in a peaceful Florida neighborhood. On behalf of Patrick Reed’s lawyer, someone pulls up to a house, goes to the door, and delivers legal documents to the world’s best golfer, Rory McIlroy, who is spending Christmas with his family. The subpoena was a component of a civil antitrust lawsuit that attorney Larry Klayman filed against the PGA Tour, claiming that the tour had conspired with the DP World Tour to keep players from participating in LIV Golf. There was no lawsuit against McIlroy. He was being forced to testify regarding a player-only gathering that had occurred months prior to the BMW Championship. At the time, he remained silent about the details. However, he recalled it.
Before the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, a month later, the two men were using the same practice range at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai. Reed approached to greet them. McIlroy didn’t raise his head. Reed then flicked a tee, a Team Aces tee with the LIV Golf brand, in McIlroy’s general direction before leaving, according to reports from the range. It was known as Tee Gate by the time the golf community came to terms with what had transpired.
In isolation, the incident sounds almost comical. A tiny piece of plastic shot through the air in response to two professional golfers on a shiny range in Dubai, one attempting to be friendly and the other refusing to acknowledge his existence. It wasn’t really about the tee, though. It had to do with what McIlroy had been dealt on December 24 and the wider rift that LIV Golf had created in the game. Reed had not just left the PGA Tour; he had joined the Saudi-backed series in the summer of 2022. Many of the people who stayed believed that he had joined the legal apparatus that was working against it. A person’s position can be made clear by being served on Christmas Eve.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION TABLE — PATRICK REED & RORY McILROY LEGAL DISPUTE
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Primary Legal Action | Civil antitrust lawsuit filed by attorney Larry Klayman against the PGA Tour, alleging it colluded with the DP World Tour to block players from joining LIV Golf |
| Filed By | Larry Klayman — “for himself and other golf fans and consumers under Florida competition law” |
| McIlroy’s Role | Subpoenaed as a witness regarding a players-only meeting held before the BMW Championship in August 2022 |
| Tiger Woods | Also subpoenaed in connection with the same players-only meeting |
| Subpoena Delivery | Served on Rory McIlroy at his home on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2022 |
| Antitrust Lawsuit Outcome | Judge granted PGA Tour’s motion to dismiss in late 2024 |
| Separate Defamation Lawsuits | Reed also filed defamation claims against Golf Channel and commentator Brandel Chamblee; first lawsuit dismissed November 2022; amended complaint filed December 2022 |
| “Tee Gate” Incident | January 2023, Hero Dubai Desert Classic practice range, Emirates Golf Club, Dubai |
| What Happened | Reed approached McIlroy; McIlroy ignored him; Reed flicked a LIV tee in McIlroy’s direction |
| Reed’s Quote | “If you’re going to act like an immature little child then you might as well be treated like one” |
| McIlroy’s Quote | “I’m living in reality, I don’t know where he’s living. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t expect a hello or a handshake” |
| Tournament Result | McIlroy won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, beating Reed by one stroke with a 15-under 269 |
| McIlroy’s Quote on Win | “Sweeter than it should be or needs to be” |
| Charity Commission | n/a (this is golf, not Sentebale — no crossover) |
| Current Status (2026) | Reed has expressed desire to end the feud; said he’d approach McIlroy with “a handful of tees to break the ice” |
Reed’s description of the circumstances was wholly his own. He told the Daily Mail, “Because of the relationship I’ve had with Rory—we’ve had some great battles at Augusta and other tournaments and our friendship’s been pretty good up until obviously joining LIV—I walked over there and wished Harry [Diamond, McIlroy’s caddie] Happy New Year and then Rory because it is the first time I have seen them. Harry shook my hand and Rory just looked down and was playing with his Trackman and kind of ignored us.” I flicked him one of my Team Aces LIV t-shirts. The shot back was rather humorous.McIlroy was then referred to as a “immature little child” by him.The olive branch, that is.
McIlroy, on the other hand, played it with a dry precision that was likely more devastating than any counter-insult. “I didn’t see a tee coming my direction at all, but apparently that’s what happened,” he stated during his press conference. “If roles were reversed and I’d have thrown that tee at him, I’d be expecting a lawsuit.” Knowing, accurate, and utterly unconcerned, that statement went viral more quickly than nearly anything said in professional golf that month.
By Reed’s standards, the legal framework underlying all of this was actually rather modest. In late 2024, a judge granted the PGA Tour’s request to dismiss Klayman’s antitrust lawsuit, which had subpoenaed McIlroy and Tiger Woods about the players-only meeting. Additionally, Reed had filed separate defamation lawsuits against Golf Channel and commentator Brandel Chamblee. These lawsuits followed a similar trajectory, being dismissed in November 2022, followed by the filing of an amended complaint in December, and finally petering out. Reed’s legal actions during this time show a pattern: he was prepared to file lawsuits vigorously on several fronts against media personalities, broadcasting companies, and anybody else who might be associated with the opposition machinery to LIV Golf and those who joined it.
Looking back on that week in Dubai in January 2023, there’s a sense that it accurately depicted the situation of men’s professional golf at the time. The sport was truly broken. At DP World Tour events, PGA Tour supporters and LIV players were competing in the same fields while their respective organizations engaged in verbal and legal sparring. McIlroy had expressed his opinion that LIV was harming the game in a public and persistent manner. Almost as consistently, Reed had been the face of LIV’s most contentious stance. In a way, it was ideal that they ended up on the same leaderboard in Dubai, tied at the halfway point, Reed charging on Sunday and closing to within one shot, and McIlroy holding him off with a birdie on the last hole and a fist pump that carried rather more meaning than most tournament victories.
Reed returned to the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in early 2026 and was ahead after three rounds. When questioned about the McIlroy situation, he offered an unusual construction as an olive branch. He claimed that in an attempt to defuse a situation that had been going on for three years, he would pick up a few tees and go up to McIlroy with them as a sort of joke or callback. Whether McIlroy finds this as humorous as Reed seems to believe is still up for debate.
