PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Fox of New Zealand withdrew from The Players Championship on Thursday, spending the day in a hospital to have kidney stones removed.
Fox cited “illness” as the reason for his withdrawal. He later posted to Instagram that this was hardly a case of the flu or a stomach virus.
“Not exactly the week I had planned,” he wrote. “Unfortunately some kidney stones took me down on Tuesday night and then had to be dealt with surgically this afternoon. Devastated to miss out on such an amazing event, hoping to have a quick recovery and be back at it soon.”
Fox was replaced in the 123-man field by David Ford, who was among the 15 players competing for the first time at the TPC Sawgrass.
Fox won the Myrtle Beach Classic and the RBC Canadian Open last year and is No. 44 in the world ranking.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Ryan Fox, of New Zealand, hits out of a bunker on the first hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
NEW YORK (AP) — Incendiary internal messages in which a Live Nation employee mocks customers as “so stupid” and says the company is “robbing them blind, baby” have been made public as over two dozen states weigh whether to continue their antitrust trial against the entertainment giant and its subsidiary Ticketmaster.
The messages from late 2021 through early 2023 on the online work messaging platform Slack were highlighted late Wednesday in a filing by government lawyers released in the public court record. The lawyers insist the messages should be evidence in the week-old trial in Manhattan federal court against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
At the trial, lawyers for the federal government and 39 states and the District of Columbia say Live Nation and Ticketmaster were squelching competition and driving up prices for fans through threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing. The companies insist that artists, sports teams and venues set prices and decide how tickets are sold.
The government lawyers wrote that the statements should be part of the trial because they are “candid, internal messages" in which Ben Baker “calls fans ‘so stupid,’ explains that he ‘gouge(s)’ them, and brags that Live Nation is ‘robbing them blind, baby.’"
In the submission to Judge Arun Subramanian, the lawyers noted that Baker made the statements while he was a regional director of ticketing with responsibility for a large amphitheater in Florida but has since been promoted to head of ticketing for Venue Nation with responsibilities relating to all of Live Nation's venues.
They said the employees were discussing Live Nation's price for access to the VIP area of a show at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa when Baker wrote that the prices are “outrageous,” that “these people are so stupid” and that “I almost feel bad taking advantage of them” before writing, “BAHAHAHAHAHA.”
Live Nation wants the exhibits disqualified from the trial, saying the messages reflect “off-the-cuff banter, not policy” between two personal friends who do not work together.
The company's lawyers wrote that the exhibits don't relate to the antitrust claims. They said the employees were making “passing references to non-ticket ancillary products — such as VIP club access, premier parking, or lawn chair rentals — sold to concertgoers at two amphitheaters” in Florida and Virginia.
But lawyers for the plaintiff states and U.S. government wrote that “excessive prices for ancillary services are directly relevant” to their claims and that “ancillaries are a significant way that Live Nation monetizes its monopoly position in the amphitheater market.”
In a statement Thursday, the company said the Slack exchange “from one junior staffer to a friend absolutely doesn't reflect our values or how we operate.”
The company added: “Because this was a private Slack message, leadership learned of this when the public did, and will be looking into the matter promptly.”
The arguments regarding the exhibits were made after Bloomberg News, The New York Times and MLex, a publication which covers legal and regulatory matters, and Inner City Press requested their release.
The trial’s status is up in the air after the federal government announced this week it was settling with Live Nation in a deal that would give Live Nation's competitors some access to ticket sales they are currently excluded from.
Lawyers for more than two dozen states have asked that the ongoing trial be scrapped and that a new jury be chosen in the weeks ahead. A jury that began hearing evidence last week was told to stay home this week with the expectation the trial would resume on Monday.
Meanwhile, Subramanian encouraged lawyers for the states and Live Nation to negotiate this week before telling him late Friday whether they've reached a deal.
Although the parties were not speaking publicly about the progress of any talks, a lawyer for Live Nation indicated at a court hearing Tuesday that there was no realistic chance of a fast deal with all states.
In a letter to the judge Thursday, a states' lawyer signaled the trial was likely to resume, saying the judge needed to rule on whether the Slack message exhibits can be shown to the jury because his decision will have a “material impact” on which witnesses the states call to testify as the states “prepare to resume trial next week.”
FILE - The seal of the Dept of Justice is shown on the podium, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - The Ticketmaster logo is seen along the sideline of the field before an NFL football game, Sept. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
