Caddies lose suit against tour

Caddies lost their class- action lawsuit against the PGA Tour when a federal judge ruled they signed a contract with the tour that requires them to wear bibs as part of their uniform and cannot claim that corporate sponsorship on the bibs makes them human billboards.

U. S. District Judge Vince Chhabria dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday night with prejudice, which typically means it cannot be refiled.

The decision came just over a year after caddies filed the lawsuit in San Francisco, in the same federal court where former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon successfully sued the NCAA for keeping college players from selling their marketing rights.

The lawsuit began with 81 caddies and had grown to 168. Chhabria dismissed all seven of the contractual claims.

The caddies had been odds with the tour for the past several years over what they perceive as poor treatment. They are not allowed in clubhouses, and at some tournaments are not allowed in the locker room.

“The caddies’ overall complaint about poor treatment by the Tour has merit, but this federal lawsuit about bibs does not,” Chhabria said.

At the heart of the lawsuit was a claim that the tour was using them as “human billboards” because the bibs they wore on the course, which featured the logos of title sponsors, amounted to advertising for which they received no compensation. Lawyers for the caddies estimated the value of the advertising at $ 50 million a year.

Chhabria suggested in his ruling that the caddies’ own complaint worked against them.

The contract a caddie signs to work a PGA Tour event says that caddies are to wear uniforms and identification badges prescribed by the tournament and the tour. Chhabria said the caddies in their brief acknowledge that “the PGA Tour has required caddies to wear bibs for decades.”

Ko to focus on Rio: Top- ranked golfer Lydia Ko of New Zealand says the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be her top priority this year.

Ko, 18, who will defend her New Zealand Open title this weekend, said there was “so much excitement and vibe” around the Olympic tournament, “especially as it’s the first time women will play at the Olympics in golf.”

“Ever since they announced that golf will be in the Olympics I said, ‘ Hey, I want to get myself on that team.’ For any athlete to say you’re an Olympian is a whole new proud feeling, and to represent your country on such an international stage it’s going to be a pretty special week.”