Patrick Reed explained himself on CBS.
He explained himself on Golf Channel.
He explained himself at a post-round press conference.
And then he explained himself on Twitter — or at least whoever manages Reed’s certified Twitter account did so — by comparing Reed’s latest rules kerfuffle, during Saturday’s third round of the Farmers Insurance Open, to a similar situation involving Rory Mcllroy.
“RORY MCILROY @McIlroyRory DID THE SAME THING TODAY ON HOLE 18! AND DIDN’T EVEN CALL A RULES OFFICIAL OVER TO DEEM THE BALL EMBEDDED. END OF STORY,” the tweet said Saturday night.
The story started on the par-4 10th hole on the South Course at Torrey Pines, where Reed hooked his second shot left and short of the green. Reed said his ball embedded upon impact. CBS’ broadcast showed it take one bounce and nestle into the rough.
Co-leader Patrick Reed recaps his third round, including the 10th hole ruling. pic.twitter.com/lgv82A2hlv
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 31, 2021
In his post-round interviews, Reed said he asked the hole volunteer, his two playing partners, Will Gordon and Robby Shelton, and the grouping’s three caddies if they had seen the ball bounce, and Reed said they all said no. At that point, as allowed under Rule 16.4, he lifted the ball to check whether it was embedded, he determined it was, and he called for a Rules official to make sure.
Reed would twice tell Brad Fabel, a PGA Tour senior tournament official, that the ball did not bounce. Fabel checked an indentation, also determined the ball had embedded and allowed Reed to take relief. He would go on to par the hole, and he’s tied for the lead entering the final round.
“At that point, we just go with what the Rules official said and also what the volunteers and what we see,” Reed said to reporter Amanda Balionis during the CBS interview. “Because it’s one of those things when we’re out there, we can’t see everything, and when that happens, you have to go by what the volunteers say, what the Rules officials say, and when it all comes push and shove, we felt like we did the right thing and the Rules official said we did it absolutely perfectly. And with that being said, we moved on and continued playing.”
Reed told Golf Channel he lifted the ball before calling a Rules official over for “pace of play purposes.”
“So what a lot of the players do, as well as what I always do, is when you sit there and whether it’s an embedded ball or whether it’s a sprinkler head or anything, whenever we’re taking relief, we mark it and we check to see if it’s embedded first,” Reed said to reporter Todd Lewis during the Golf Channel interview. “Because if you lift it and you put your finger down and it’s flat down there, then you’re like, OK, the ball’s not embedded, you place the ball back as it lied and then you proceed on.
“If you sit there and you mark it or if you don’t mark it and you wait for a Rules official, it doesn’t help for pace of play purposes for groups, whether they’re behind you or you’re keeping up with the group in front of you. So a lot of the times, the main procedure that I’ve always done is, as well as what a lot of the other players do is they mark the ball to check first and if they feel that it is broken, they either go ahead and take the relief or they call over a Rules official, which, with the Rules of Golf, I always call over a Rules official.”
After his round, Reed was called into the scoring tent and watched a replay of the incident with senior tournament director John Mutch. Reed told Balionis that Mutch told him that “what just transpired was textbook.”
“I wanted to know if he saw the ball bounce and neither he nor his fellow competitors saw the ball bounce,” Mutch said in his own press conference. “It’s pretty clear watching the video that he got to within 10 yards of the ball and asked the volunteer who was standing right there, ‘Did it bounce?’ and the volunteer said it did not bounce. So it was reasonable for him to conclude that that was his ball, it did not bounce and he was then entitled to see if it was embedded.”
What if a fan said it bounced? Spectators are not at the Farmers, as they haven’t been at most tournaments during the pandemic. Reed said if “one fan said they saw it bounce, I never would have had to put a tee down and even check to see if it was embedded.”
“The only thing I would have done differently, if we saw the ball bounce or if someone said the ball bounced, then I never would have marked the golf ball,” Reed said in his press conference. “You would have just played as it lies. You know when the ball bounces, it’s almost impossible for it to break the plane and so therefore, when that happens, anytime you see the ball bounce, you just play it as it lies. But since you have three players, three caddies and a volunteer that is probably from me to you that didn’t see the ball bounce, then you obviously are going to go off of that.”
Back to McIlroy.
On the par-5 18th hole, McIlroy hit his second shot 69 yards short of the green. According to Lewis, McIlroy determined that his ball was embedded without calling over a Rules official, he dropped and hit his third shot. The Golf Channel video of Lewis was tweeted by Reed’s account, along with the all-caps explanation, at 8:09 p.m. ET in a response to a Balionis tweet.
At 8:03 p.m. ET, the video, the exact wording of the tweet and the all-caps style was also tweeted by the account @useGolfFACTS. That account tweeted all of that several more times in defense of Reed.
Article originally appeared on: Golf.com
Once again, Brandle Chamblee ( golf channel) seems to want to persecute Patrick Reed to prove his point that he is a god of rules infractions. When Rory did the same thing, it is mentioned but not persecuted. I never see Brandle or any of the golf channel guru’s whining when I see any of the major belly putters, Scott or Langer obviously anchoring thier long putters. It is interesting how the HD cameras never focus on if they are touching their bodies/shirts as it appears to most viewers. I believe all putters should be the shortest in the bags (but that’s another discussion). My point is, quit picking on different golfers due to your personal grievances with certain golfers. Remember when Brandle got all over Tiger, he basically had to shut up or get off the air!! NOw he goes out of his way with praise for him.
It’s amazing ow many idiots are willing g to pontificate about something they know nothing about. A PGA RULES official ( not a unknowing idiot) as well as the golf channel’s rules expert ( after review in the tape) ruled that Reed did NOTHING WRONG.
That’s all ,folks. END of discussion – no-one CARES what you think happened because you weren’t there.
And that goes for Jim Nance and Sir Nick also.
Reed gets paid to PLAY GOLF .The difference between Reed and Nance and Sir Nick is they both get paid to talk like a holes.
I watched it live it seemed fine to me. On Rory’s I did see it bounce so not sure why he wasn’t penalized, I think he should have been. Nobody has ever taken more advantage of the “rules” than tiger. Only time I ever saw him snagged was when he dropped more than a club length behind to get a better distance.
Truthfully, you can always cheat on that rule anyway if you want to. All you have to do is press down on the ball for some mud and then lift it out to show it. Any rule can be used to your benefit if you want to cheat. The one that gets me is when they’re near the stands and they use a long club to see if they interfere with their swing and then they take out the wedge after their drop. Or when they widen their stance to make it look like the sprinkler head interferes with their swing then take a narrower stance after they get their drop. The best of all time is the fire ants though, although they didn’t give it to him that was very creative.
Jim Nance and Nick Faldo make me sick. After umpteen rules officials, including their own czar, rules that Reed was within the rules, they still drag 4 more commentators into the issue to try and bolster their negative reaction. Not one negative comment about Rory’s decision, which may have broken the rule. Faldo’s EXTREME bias towards anything European is disgusting.
Nobody is more impressed with Jim Nance than Jim Nance. His desire to make a controversy out of nothing turned off many viewers, including our household.
I was one of the two marshals that first identified Mr. Reed’s ball on number 10 south. I have been a marshal for 47 years at this pro event. When I viewed his ball, it did not appear to be embedded. It was sitting in about 3 to 4 inches of rough but laying on grass. Not until Mr. Reed touched the site for several seconds did he call for a ruling. In my opinion, it was a bogus relief!
Jim Nance knows his golf. I was the first marshal to identify Mr. Reed’s ball and in my 47 years of being a marshal, I did not see his ball as “embedded “. It was laying in 3 to 4 inches of grass but it did not break ground. Only after Mr. Reed removed the ball and touched the site with a circular motion for several seconds did he call for a ruling. A bogus attempt to improve his lie!!