Patrick Reed was the talk of the golf world this weekend and it had little to do with his victory at Torrey Pines but rather with an incident in Saturday’s third round in which he seemed to break the rules of golf yet again.
Reed, in cased you missed it, had an incident with what he said was an embedded ball on the 10th hole on Saturday. He picked the ball up, then had a rules official come over to feel the ground, then was able to take a free drop that gave him a much better lie and led to a nice par.
It also led to just about every golf media member and fan calling him out for bending the rules again. Even Jim Nantz wasn’t impressed and he’s usually the most vanilla announcer you will ever hear on TV.
Well, after Sunday’s round Xander Schauffele, who finished five strokes back in a tie for second, called out Reed and even the PGA Tour:
“I mean, he did everything by the book according to the official and everyone stood by there. Obviously the talk amongst the boys isn’t great, I guess, but he’s protected by the Tour and that’s all that matters, I guess.”
"I would not put myself – and create a situation like that… obviously the talk amongst the boys isn't great."
Xander Schauffele was asked about the Patrick Reed controversy after his round.
Says he'd wait for an official before lifting the ball, unlike what Reed did Saturday. pic.twitter.com/GXnucipx5A
— Darnay Tripp (@DarnayTripp) February 1, 2021
He’s the transcript:
The comments of Xander Schauffele…. pic.twitter.com/BHjYeJc2Km
— Ewan Murray (@mrewanmurray) January 31, 2021
The PGA Tour has always been way too protective of its players and it came out in Reed’s defense this weekend.
Hopefully more players speak up like Schauffele did, though, because what Reed gets away with is so bad for the game of golf.