More Players on Tour Weigh In On Patrick Reed’s Cheating Antics

We all are aware of the scummy antics Patrick Reed pulled last week an the Hero Challenge. As fans I would say 99% of us were on the same page and all came to the same consensus: Fu*k Patrick Reed.

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He was assessed a two stroke penalty (which he ended up losing by two strokes lol), some people speculated a larger punishment putting his status on The Presidents Cup team in speculation. However he has made the trip and it set to participate, I can already hear the boos from across the world as he tees off.

Some players gave their two cents on the situation, and for the most part seemed to agree with the fans:

“If you make a mistake maybe once, you could maybe understand but to give a bit of a bulls— response like the camera angle … that’s pretty up there [inexcusable],” Aussie Cam Smith told reporters at the Australian Open, adding that he expects spectators to taunt Reed over the incident.

“I hope so,” Smith said. “I don’t have any sympathy for anyone that cheats.

“I hope the crowd absolutely gives it to not only him but everyone [on the American team] next week.”

Source: ESPN

Nobody seems to hate Patrick Reed more than Cam Smith and I don’t blame him –  any way Reed gains an unfair advantage over him is literal money out of his pocket. A few others thoughts:

Eddie Pepperell tweeted, “What the f— were you thinking?!”

Solheim Cup star Anne van Dam wrote, “This is absolutely insane.. this does not belong on any professional tour..”

Seems like everyone is pretty pissed off, I was curious as to how the top players would respond to questions on the situation… Here is Rory McIlroy on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive:

“I don’t think it would be a big deal if it wasn’t Patrick Reed. A lot of people within the game, it’s almost a hobby to kick him while he’s down.” 

“That shot does look bad,” he continued. “It’s very hard for me not to think he didn’t feel what he was doing. It’s a hard one. I’d rather try to give someone the benefit of the doubt, take your penalty and move on.”

“It’s almost an obliviousness to it rather than actually anything intent-ful in terms of trying to get away with something,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s his pre-shot routine, nearly. It doesn’t make it right what he did, but if it wasn’t Patrick Reed and it was someone else it would’ve not been as big a deal as it’s been made out to be.

“If he’s learned his lesson and doesn’t do it again then it’s a good thing.”

I respect Rory for having his back, but honestly there is no way I can believe that he really feels that Reed didn’t know what he was doing. He has literally done the same exact thing before:

Good find here, Patrick Reed at this event in 2015. Again, only one camera angle tho … pic.twitter.com/iRJwLVot0x

— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) December 7, 2019

With all this said, I think Reed loves the villain role which the PGA needs. I expect Reed to thrive from the spectators hatred and play out of his mind this week at The Presidents Cup.

Cover Image Via Twitter