As with everything in life, there’s always the "Bad Guy" or "Villain". We've all had that bully growing up. We all have that co-worker that is a jerk. It's as certain as death & taxes. Scarface, Tony Montana, stated, "You need people like me." Golf is no different. For the most part, today’s golfers maintain a respect for the game and hold themselves accountable to upholding the standing tradition of keeping composure even amid chaos. Every golfer has tossed a club or said a word (or more) that they wouldn’t repeat in front of their children when playing this frustrating game. This player goes the extra mile in breaking tradition. This player is known for his arrogance, his trash-talking, his legal issues, his family problems, and his cheating. This player is Patrick Reed.
How can someone be loathed so much by people who hardly know him? Why would they have such disdain for someone when they can only watch him from afar? How can Americans hate a man that has the nickname, “Captain America”? He’s ranked 7th in the world (as of right now), he’s won 8 times on tour including winning the fabled “Green Jacket”. Most people love to root for “winners”. So why do so many think he’s a “loser”?
Maybe it’s the family dynamics: Patrick Reed does not get along with his mother, father, or sister. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even speak to them. Once he left out in 2012, he’s never come home. Since his marriage to Justine Karain in 2012 (which they were not invited to), Reed has not spoken to them. His parents have never met their grandchildren. Supposedly, the rift started when Patrick and Justine were getting married and Reed’s parents thought he was too young. Whatever the case, in 2014 at the US Open at Pinehurst, Reed had them kicked out even though they received tickets from their friends. Security said that Bill Reed (Patrick’s father) was making “intimidating movements” towards Patrick’s wife. Security also claimed that neither Reed or his wife had any involvement in that decision, but that’s hard to believe when Patrick, himself stated at the 2018 Tour Championship, “I would have called for security to throw them out.” if he had seen his father and sister at that tournament.
Maybe it’s the arrogance: Patrick Reed is extremely confident in himself. He leads with his chin, struts like a pimp, and has a brazen personality. I personally believe that it’s a good thing to have a strong confidence in yourself, especially if a professional athlete. Having some moxie about yourself keeps you hungry to be the best version of you, you can be. Reed’s moxie is on a whole other level. At age 23, when he was ranked 20th at the time, he claimed, “I don’t see a lot of guys that have done that besides Tiger Woods and the legends of the game. I believe in myself, especially with how hard I’ve worked. I’m one of the top five players in the world. I feel like I’ve proven myself.” To be fair, this was after he had just won his 3rd tournament on Tour and was hyped up, but he still had not played in a major tournament yet. To compare yourself with Tiger Woods or legends of the game, (in my opinion) you had better have won more than just a few tournaments. He has won the Masters since and has many, many years left of playing, so maybe there’s a chance he has his name called with the all-time greats. But after just a few wins, perhaps too soon.
Who can forget the famous “hush” signal seen around the world. Instantly he became the most hated man at Gleneagles in Scotland. While battling Henrik Stenson, he turned to the crowd and gave them the silent signal as if he owned the player and them. He became so un-popular there that he needed a police escort out of the resort. Give him credit though, he won his match and was one of the few bright spots for Team USA that year and even earned the nickname “Captain America” from his heroics at the Ryder Cup. Two years later, when playing Rory McIlroy he wagged his finger at Rory after draining a putt, as if he was Dikembe Mutombo blocking Michael Jordan. It was a great victory, as the two players battled it out with Reed coming out on top. Rory later said that he didn’t mind Reed’s antics much and that it was all in good fun.
Maybe it’s the bad boys days from College: Patrick Reed was booted from Georgia University because of allegedly cheating during a qualifying round, run-in with teammates, allegations of theft ($400 cash & a Scotty Cameron putter, which teammates blame Reed for), and a pair of arrests for intoxication. Reed denied the cheating, denied the thievery, and did not disclose his second arrest to his coaches. Maybe he is innocent from the charges of theft, but either way, his teammates all hated him.
The same went at Augusta State, where he transferred to. Before the national championship, his teammates told UGA player Harris English that while they wanted to win the championship, they hoped he beat him. Reed rose to the occasion and won the match 2 and 1, which won the championship.
Maybe it's the calling out of other players: Patrick Reed called out Jordan Spieth's name at the Arnold Palmer Invitational when he didn't get a ruling in his favor. He snapped at the official, "I guess my name needs to be Jordan Spieth." There was another time he called out Justin Thomas on Twitter, indirectly. Reed posted pictures of PGA Tour issued seats and then blasted them because JT was throwing out the first pitch. Another time he questioned Jim Furyk's captaining at the 2018 Ryder Cup. He was apparently upset being paired with Tiger Woods, instead of Jordan Spieth. Even Dustin Johnson thinks he deserves it. He stated, “Does he ask for a little bit of it? Yeah.” Although DJ did state that he does like him, personally.
Maybe it's his foul language on the course: Patrick Reed's mouth has got him into some serious trouble. Everyone that’s played the game understands that few F bombs will be dropped on occasion. But he went to the full extreme when at the WGC-HSBC Champions he yelled out the phrase, “Nice f*cking three-putt you f*cking f*gg*t.” His apology wasn’t much better, which only made him look silly because he didn't understand what the fuss was about. Pretty ruthless, even in today’s snowflake society.
Maybe it's the cheating: Patrick Reed was allegedly kicked out of UGA for cheating or improving his lie. In 2019, he was penalized for improving the lie of his ball at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. While Reed claims it was an accident, Brooks Koepka, (one of Reed’s Ryder Cup Teammates) tended to disagree. BK said, "I mean, I don't know what he was doing, building sandcastles in the sand, but you know where your club is. It's one of those things where you know if you look at the video obviously, he grazes the sand twice and then he still chops down on it." This was not the first time an incident like this happened. Longtime CBS broadcaster Peter Kostis said he’s seen Reed improve his lie on four separate occasions. He stated one time at San Diego, “he hit it over the green, and he did the same thing. Put three or four clubs behind…. and it was really a treacherous shot, nobody had gotten it close all day long from over there. And by the time he was done, I could read ‘Callaway’ on the golf ball from the tower.”
Maybe it's the family dynamics, Part 2: Patrick Reed's brother-in-law & caddie, Kessler Karain got physical with a fan after the fourball defeat for Reed and Webb Simpson to Hideki Matsuyama and CT Pan. Karain was seen stepping off the cart and into the crowd in Melbourne, Australia. Karain later said that one spectator had shouted “you f*cking suck” to Reed from a few feet away. Karain had grown frustrated by what he perceived as a lack of action from the security towards cat-calling attendees, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He then said that, “As a caddie, one of your jobs is to protect your player. And unlike several other sports, in golf, fans can get pretty close to athletes.
We have been known for having fun with some good banter, but after hearing several fans in Australia for three days, some had taken it too far. I had enough. And this gentleman was one of them. I got off the cart and shoved him, said a couple things, probably a few expletives. Security came and I got back in the cart and left. I don’t think there’s one caddie I know that could blame me. Unless his bones break like Mr. Glass, the most harm done was a little spilled beer, which I’m more than happy to reimburse him for.” His caddie brother-in-law was suspended for the rest of the tournament.
Think what you will of Patrick Reed. He’s a Master’s Champion, he’s won 8 tournaments on tour along with over $30 million, and he’s a young guy with many, many years of playing ahead of him. It’s easy to judge someone from the sidelines. I don't know the man personally, I'm like you, viewing from the sidelines. But the fans hatred of Reed seems warranted when even a competitor and someone who’s known Reed, Kevin Kisner (who was voted favorite playing partner on tour in 2019) stated this about Reed when discussing his college teammates to Golfdigest.com, "They all hate him -- any guys that were on the team with him [at Georgia] hate him and that's the same way at Augusta. I don't know that they'd piss on him if he was on fire, to tell you the truth.'' Ouch. The good news about Patrick Reed: He doesn't care what you think of him.
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