A number of high-profile caddies filed a lawsuit against the PGA Tour in San Francisco seeking compensation for wearing bibs bearing the names of corporate sponsors during competition.
In the 39-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the caddies claim they “are made to serve as billboards to advertise, at the direction of the PGA Tour, for some of the most profitable companies in the world without compensation.”
According to attorney Gene Egdorf of Lanier Law Firm in Houston, who represents the caddies, the bibs are worth $50 million annually to the PGA Tour and its sponsors, and the caddies would like to be compensated for wearing the bibs.
“There may be a battle as to what the limitations period is that applies, but it’ll go back several years,” Egdorf told ESPN. “If the value of the bib is what we suspect it might be, we’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in the case.”
Among the 82 caddies listed in the lawsuit are Damon Green (pictured with his boss, Zach Johnson), Steven Hale (Keegan Bradley), Paul Tesori (Webb Simpson), Andy Sanders (Jimmy Walker), Jimmy Johnson (Steve Stricker), Micah Fugitt (Billy Horschel), James Edmondson (Ryan Palmer), Kenny Harms (Kevin Na) and Tony Navarro (Gary Woodland).
The lawsuit claims that eventually more than 1,000 caddies could be included.
“The caddies should be able to go out and market themselves for the bibs and get the best deal they can,” Egdorf told Golfweek. “Let the fair market decide what the caddies are worth and what the bibs are worth.”
Caddies on the Web.com Tour and Champions Tour also are incorporated into the suit, which asks for an injunction to prevent the PGA Tour from forcing caddies to wear the bibs.
For more than a year, the caddies have negotiated with representatives of the PGA Tour on bib compensation, health insurance and retirement. The caddies claim the PGA Tour will not budge on its existing $2,000 annual stipend for health-care coverage for caddies.
