By Kent Gray
It’s far too easy to relitigate the litany of incendiary moments that mark the extraordinary life and times of Patrick Nathaniel Reed.

On the cusp of securing a place in history as the first American to become European No.1, it is perhaps even unfair to propagate his status as the modern-day anti-hero of world golf. Yet to paper over the controversies would serve no justice to the story of one of the most intriguing and complicated characters in the game. It would also ignore some fairly damning evidence.

It started in college where Reed was famously booted off the team at the University of Georgia in 2009. Chalk up his arrest for underage drinking and possession of a fake ID while at Georgia to a youthful mistake righted by 60 hours of community service. But the allegations of inaccurate scorecard accountancy, golf’s most heinous crime, that have dogged the now 30-year-old since his brief stint at Georgia have been tougher to shake.

At his next school, Augusta State University, most of the roster reportedly tolerated him as a necessary evil in helping deliver the school consecutive NCAA championships in 2010 and 2011. He was even thumbed for stealing from team-mates.

“Those on the professional circuit who were college teammates with Reed at Georgia and Augusta State have nothing to do with him,” Kevin Kisner told Golf Digest in late 2018.  “They all hate him.”

Reed has continued to strenuously deny all and every charge but his historical defence was considerably weakened at last year’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Penalised for improving his lie in a waste area while leading Tiger’s end of season hit and giggle, Reed continues to argue that the angle of the camera shots that caught him painted an unfair TV picture.

Reed was inevitably and ruthlessly heckled at the Presidents Cup the following week. Some in the gallery carried plastic shovels and one American-accented fan even joked out loud, “Patrick, are you really going to make your caddie carry 14 clubs and a shovel?”

‘Captain America’ kept his cool at Royal Melbourne until the second day when a fan yelled out “miss it” just as he was about to pull the trigger on an important six-footer. Reed reset and duly sank the putt before twice making exaggerated shovelling gestures with his putter. Some saluted it as a quick riposte, others saw as a callous omission of guilt. Such is the tightrope Reed walks.

Off the course, Reed’s feud with his parents Bill and Jeannette, an awkward silent treatment that extends to his younger sister Hannah, has also served to deepen the intrigue.

It has played out since Reed, just 22 at the time, married Justine Karain in late 2012 after they’d met at Augusta State. Reports that Justine ordered security to escort Reed’s estranged folks out of the 2014 U.S. Open have subsequently been corrected by a USGA official who confirmed the pair had been removed on the “observation of local law enforcement, who reported Bill Reed had made what they described as an intimidating movements towards Justine Reed.

Reed is embraced by wife Justine after winnng the 2018 Masters. Getty Images

“Patrick and Justine Reed had nothing to do with Bill & Jeannette Reed’s removal from the course, their badges being confiscated, or any request for them not to return to the event that week.”

You can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends, right? Reed may be thought so until the 2018 Ryder Cup when, slighted by the breaking up of his previously successful partnership with Jordan Spieth, he called out both Spieth and U.S. captain Jim Furyk following a 17½-10½ thrashing at the hands of Europe at Le Golf National.

Critics point to that New York Times exposé as all you need to know about Reed’s self-centred character and insist the aforementioned (alleged) indiscretions are just the tip of the iceberg. They may have a point. Since his Masters win in 2018, Reed has also been involved in a verbal dust-up with a TV crew and a bizarre social-media incident with the PGA Tour involving baseball tickets.

Whisked together, it muddies one of the most impressive records of the modern era; a Masters green jacket, Ryder Cup cult-hero status (until Paris at least) and eight PGA Tour titles including a World Golf Championship and FedEx Cup playoff wins.

Reed’s triumph at the 2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship had the potential to transform his public perception. And yet his great play to pip Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson at Trump National Doral in Miami, allowing him to  become the youngest winner of a WGC title, was lost in a typically honest interview afterwards.

“I have three wins on the PGA Tour. I truly believe that I am a top-five player in the world,” said Reed, unwittingly repositioning himself in the public crosshairs.

It was a bold claim from the then world No.44, especially as he hadn’t yet teed it up in a major. But Reed doubled down after also becoming just the fifth pro to capture three or more PGA Tour titles before his 24th birthday, joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy.

“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.”

With caddie Kessler Karain at the recent Zozo Championship. Getty Images

Others can and have gotten away with such brazenness (Brooks Koepka, anyone?). But golf is a game that generally likes its champions humble and if nothing else, squeaky-clean on the course. Reed, a man who continues to speak and stand by his own truth, insists he is no cheat but many won’t afford him any more mulligans.

Others, like recent European Tour winner Robert MacIntyre, reckon Reed’s strong self-belief might simply be misunderstood.

“I have played him a fair few times now, and I think he is an absolute gem of a guy,” the Scottish lefty, who was paired with Reed for the opening 36 holes of the PGA Championship, told the UK’s National Club Golfer magazine.

“I have actually spoken about it with [my caddie] Gregg and other players, because the two of us get on. There are obviously some things that have happened, but as a person he is top drawer.”

World View

Not long before Justine gave birth to the couple’s first child in May 2014, her bother Kessler Karain took over caddie duties from his sister. But the greater weight has continued to be shouldered by Reed ever since he anointed himself a “top-five” player.

History records that he’s yet to reach that lofty plateau although Reed has gone agonisingly close, ascending to 6th spot in the OWGR following the Charles Schwab Challenge in June, the PGA Tour’s first event post COVID.

It’s easy to dredge up past incidents and pin perceived cockiness on Reed but in his defence, there are also ample examples of good deeds and an appreciation of his place in the bigger scheme of golfing things.

Reed is scheduled to return to the Saudi International for the third successive year in February and has already been teed up to reunite with the young students at The World Academy in King Abdullah Economic City. Critics might argue that a tidy appearance fee makes any after hours appearance thinly veined PR fluff. But Reed seems earnestly engaged.

“I enjoy meeting new fans and travelling to different parts of the world to help grow the game of golf, and I truly enjoy the different cultures and countries that we visit,” he said. “To be able to play at some of the best courses around the world is such a gift and something that I am truly grateful to be able to do.”

Indeed, join the queue to say what you will about the current world No.11. But criticism of his support of the European Tour since 2015 cannot be levelled.

His commitment was rewarded in January 2019 when Reed joined Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson as the only Americans to be awarded Honorary Life Membership to the European Tour.

It has also been underlined this year when, after missing the cut in Saudi, he ignored the risks of trans-Atlantic travel and the restrictions of bio-secure bubbles to finish T-3 at the tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship in October, regaining in the process the Race to Dubai lead he first established in February after winning the WGC-Mexico.

Reed plays into the 18th green at JGE during the 2018 DP World Tour Championship. Getty Images

Reed has always voiced his desire to be seen as a world player. The trick now is to record his first win outside North America with that trademark, cut-off iron (and sometimes driver) swing and silky short-game of his.

“It would be an honour to become the first American to win the Race to Dubai and I’m really looking forward to the challenge of competing at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai,” said Reed who finished T-2 to Danny Willett in the 2018 DPWTC and second overall in the Race to Dubai that same year.

“Being a worldwide player is certainly at the forefront of my mind as a professional. Experiencing new cultures and playing in different conditions ultimately helps me become a more well-rounded golfer and person.”

Which begs the question: surely Reed is aware of his negative public reputation? Is it not important to you to be popular, Patrick?   

“You know, that’s one great thing about the sport we play is you know, whether it’s here, whether it’s anywhere else we play around the world. A lot of the fans, they respect great golf and they want to see great golf,” said Reed on the eve of his Masters title defence in 2019.

“It all depends on how you handle yourself, and the more interactive you are with the fans, the more they are going to respect you. Because at the end of the day, the more the fans and the people get to know you, the more they realise that you’re just a normal guy out there playing golf and you’re just doing your profession.”

Reed receives Honoury Life Membership of the European Tour from Keith Pelley. Getty Images

Reed perhaps hasn’t handled himself the way others would have hoped for since those comments at Augusta National 20 months ago. But the desire to play great golf worldwide remains.

“He relishes the chance to be seen as a global player and to experience new cultures, so it has been great to see him embrace the opportunities the European Tour can offer in that respect as golf’s global Tour,” said European Tour CEO Keith Pelley.

“He came over to Wentworth again in October for the BMW PGA Championship and finished tied third, then he also played well in the [top-10 at the Nov 2020] Masters to extend his lead at the top of the Race to Dubai, so he now has a good chance to realise that ambition at the DP World Tour Championship.”

There’s the thing. Unabashed ambition. Come at Patrick Reed all you want but the only critic he listens to is himself. And in Reed’s mind at least, the best way to answer the only critic that truly matters is to win.

Queue another four-day circumnavigation of Earth. “Winning the Race to Dubai and the European Tours’ Order of Merit has always been a goal of mine. I came close in 2018 and you can bet I will do my best to earn the No.1 spot [this year].”

The post The Curious Case of Patrick Reed appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Scott Michaux
One of the ironies of 2018 is that Captain America could have used a good shushing. For all of the deeds Patrick Reed accomplished this year, it’s his words that linger. Too bad, considering there is no shortage of deeds to define Reed’s season.

There were the five birdies in the first seven holes Sunday at Shinnecock Hills that vaulted him into the thick of a U.S. Open shootout. There was his back-nine charge at the DP World Tour Championship to secure runner-up in the Race to Dubai, the highest finish by an American in the European Tour’s season-long points competition. And, of course, there was the 25-foot birdie putt he buried on the 12th hole at Augusta National that triggered his winning the green jacket.

Yet for all his success on the course, including that career-altering Masters victory in his collegiate hometown, the image that stands out is Reed leaning forward after the Ryder Cup and flashing a wicked smile across the dais when a question was offered in the post-match press conference regarding why he and Jordan Spieth hadn’t been paired that week. It was a look that said “Should I light this room on fire?”

Spieth elected to answer, as if to dowse any sparks, and U.S. captain Jim Furyk hijacked the query before it could get back across to Reed. But that didn’t stop Reed from burning things down anyway in a phone interview later that night with The New York Times in which he threw Furyk, Spieth and the rest of his teammates back under the bus that had already crushed them all in a humiliating 17½-10½ loss to the Europeans in France.

Reed said he was “blindsided” by the “buddy system” pairings that sent him out twice with Tiger Woods for losses and benched him in both foursomes sessions. He continued with a myriad of provocative rants:

• “The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me.”

• “For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice.”

• “Every day, I saw ‘Leave your egos at the door.’ They [the Europeans] do that better than us.”

Considering Reed’s signature move was putting a finger to his lips at Gleneagles in 2014 to shush the European crowds, he should listen to himself.

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Reed salvaged a point in Sunday singles, but his post-match comments created headaches after the Euros’ easy victory.

An anonymous U.S. player told the New York Post that Reed “is so full of s—t,” and added “he has no clue how to play team golf. I saw firsthand how bad of a team player he was. Eleven players understood the concept of team golf and only one didn’t. Unfortunately, that one proved to be too costly for the team to overcome.”

So now what? In what should have been a triumphant season in the continued development of one of America’s top young talents, Patrick Reed instead faces a different reality. What kind of environment has he created for himself moving forward, not just with fans trying to figure him out but also with his peers?

• • •

Reed’s tarnished relationship with his Ryder Cup teammates follows the same pattern as his collegiate experience. He was persona non grata when he was kicked off the team at Georgia in 2009 after one season, and most on the Augusta State roster tolerated him as a necessary evil in helping deliver the school consecutive NCAA championships in 2010 and 2011.

“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,” said Kevin Kisner, a Georgia alum who predated Reed’s arrival in Athens and lives 20 minutes from Augusta in Aiken, S.C. “I don’t know that they’d piss on him if he was on fire, to tell you the truth.”

Getting Reed’s collegiate teammates to confirm that animosity on the record is fruitless. Professional tour peers who shared rosters with him like Harris English, Russell Henley, Brian Harman or Henrik Norlander will give you the same glare and no comment whenever the subject of Reed comes up. None of them see any value in saying something to sabotage Reed’s reputation when they have full confidence that he’ll inevitably say enough to sabotage himself.

That’s certainly proven the case. Reed first caught everybody’s attention when he became the youngest winner of a World Golf Championship event at Doral in 2014 and promptly declared himself a “top-five player” in the world. Even before the Ryder Cup fallout, he made headlines this year whining about various sleights. He complained that he needed to be named Spieth in order to get a favorable ruling at Bay Hill. He publicly griped about the quality of his free tickets to a Red Sox game in September. He revoked a camera crew’s “privileges” and refused to hit his shot until they moved across the fairway at the European Open.

‘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.’ —Kevin Kisner

When the subject of Reed’s estrangement with his parents and sister—who live only a few miles from Augusta National—came up in his post-Masters press conference, Reed continued his dismissive campaign regarding the matter.

“I mean, I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments,” he said with a cold glare at the questioner.

Getty Images
Reed’s inner group of friends is small, including caddie Kessler Karain (left) and his wife, Justine.

Reed, who almost exclusively plays practice rounds alone, doesn’t cultivate many friends to vouch for him. His inner circle is comprised mainly of his wife, Justine, and her family, including her brother Kessler Karain as his caddie. Both Justine and her mother waged social-media wars in defense of his Ryder Cup performance. He’s created his own in-house management, Team Reed Enterprises, which seems to embrace his villainous reputation with an ominous red-and-black eagle logo.

“You never get anything from him, so it’s hard to learn anything from him,” Kisner said. “He’s always got his headphones in.”

Bubba Watson, who offered Reed some friendly advice after he blurted out a homophobic epithet four years ago in China, stuck around to congratulate Reed after his victory in Augusta. Before they went 0-2 as partners at Le Golf National, Reed developed a kinship with Woods when the latter served as vice captain at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. Rory McIlroy, who faded in the final pairing with Reed at Augusta and had a memorable Ryder Cup singles duel with him at Hazeltine, says he enjoys their relationship.

“I respect him. I have a deep respect for his game, his mental toughness, his drive. I’ve spent enough time around Patrick to know he’s a really good guy and sometimes misunderstood,” McIlroy said recently. “I genuinely like him.”

RELATED: 17 things you need to know about Patrick Reed

• • •

Josh Gregory—Reed’s college coach at Augusta State and occasional swing advisor—agrees with the “misunderstood” label.

“He’s said things maybe he wishes he didn’t say, but for the most part he’s very misunderstood,” Gregory said. “He’s a lot more well-liked than people think. He keeps mainly to himself and cares about his family and cares about his golf, and that’s mainly just it. He doesn’t have a lot of other interests. There could be a documentary on how hard this young man works. Yes, he’s very talented, but there’s no secret to why he’s been so successful. That’s his work ethic. Nobody will outwork him or out-prepare him. Of course, he’s very brash and cocky inwardly, but that’s not really who he is on the outside. At times it may come across as that when he says ‘I’m one of the top-five players in the world,’ but that’s what he genuinely believes.”

Davis Love III, who has been Reed’s captain or vice captain on three consecutive international teams, thinks there’s some merit in that concept. He likens the way Reed’s competitiveness comes across sometimes to Tom Watson, whose bluntness could be off-putting.

“I think Patrick is so competitive, like Tom, that sometimes he goes overboard, the wrong direction,” Love said. “But harnessing that is a great thing. You’ve seen it with the top players, there’s something wired a little differently to make them that good. To make them that cocky and competitive when it counts to win the Masters you have to have something different inside you to do that.

“Sometimes competitive guys just can’t handle losing. You have to learn how to be friends with everybody on our team and everybody get along and harness that competitiveness.”

Jamie Squire
Spieth and Reed in friendlier times.

Of all the people in Reed’s current life, Gregory has been endeavoring to harness that the longest—even longer than Reed’s wife. Gregory first met Reed when they were both competing in the 2009 Terra Cotta Invitational in Naples, Fla., where a 18-year-old Reed tied for fifth just a stroke ahead of his soon-to-be college coach.

“That’s right when he was leaving Georgia and trying to decide where he was going to go to school,” Gregory said.

After his brief, tumultuous tenure at Georgia, Reed settled at Augusta State where he became the essential ingredient to turn an already talented roster into back-to-back NCAA champions. While Reed’s personality didn’t mix well with another collection of teammates, Gregory became a fervent ally that has endured.

“There’s always a place for me on his team because I get him and understand him and understand how he’s wired,” Gregory said. “He’s extremely hard on himself and the most self-motivated person I’ve ever seen. I know when he lashes out and when to take it and when to kick him in the butt and when to pat him on the back. So I think it’s important he trusts me … and I’ve been there for him regardless of good times and bad times or people taking shots at him or when he’s made some mistakes I think he wishes he could take back.”

There’s only so much anyone can do. Reed said “I don’t ever regret anything I really say.” He seems disinterested in making friends with peers or being beloved by fans.

“Honestly, I don’t really care what people say on Twitter or what they say if they are cheering for me or not cheering for me,” he said at the Masters. “I’m out here to do my job, and that’s to play golf. I feel like if I’m doing it the right way, then that’s all that really matters.”

‘There could be a documentary on how hard this young man works. Yes, he’s very talented, but there’s no secret to why he’s been so successful. That’s his work ethic. Nobody will outwork him or out-prepare him.’ —Josh Gregory

That singular focus has carried him as high as No. 7 in the world (Reed is currently 15th), but it’s not much for developing chemistry in the team room.

“It’s an individual sport. You do what you do to take care of yourself,” Kisner said. “I don’t think he made himself any more popular to get a captain’s pick on a team if he ever needed one. It is what it is. He’s a helluva player, and he’s gonna make a lot of teams, and he’s gonna win golf tournaments.”

Reed addressed his immediate post-Ryder Cup comments after he jumped out to a first-round lead in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas last month. While not shying away from his point that there was a lack of communication and “something needed to be changed,” he tried to move forward.

“It’s been a long time, a long time ago,” he said regarding the Ryder Cup. “All of us on our side have moved past that. You know, basically when the tournament was over, all of us moved past it, and we’re just kind of getting ready for hopefully two years.”

Woods, who will captain the 2019 U.S. Presidents Cup team, said at the Hero that he had a long conversation with Reed after the Ryder Cup, but Woods declined to offer specifics. “We talked amongst us, and that will stay between us,” he noted.

Reed and Furyk haven’t spoken since Paris, and the issues weren’t addressed in a brief text exchange after the matches. Furyk, in speaking with Golf Digest, wishes for any lessons to come from the experience to be constructive.

“It’s not that I want the page to turn; I want ’18 to be a learning experience for all 12 of the players and all six of us as captains,” Furyk said. “But I also want us to progress. So for me to rehash, it’s not a positive. Pretty soon we’re going to name our next captain, and I’m going to help that person and say here’s where I could have improved and here’s what we could have done better and here’s the things I think really worked. I drew a lot of positives from what Davis did. He made my job less difficult as a captain, and I want to do that for the next. So for me to be anything but positive from the experience doesn’t do us any good as a team.”

Getty Images
The Ryder Cup flap cut short Reed’s victory lap after his Masters win.

Could Reed’s personality become a liability to himself and to future U.S. international teams?

“I hope not,” Furyk said. “Whether it’s the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup … I want those teams to be successful. He’s going to be part of that recipe, an ingredient, and I hope that’s not the case. The interesting thing about the timing is we’re all together for the buildup and once the Ryder Cup ends we kind of go our separate ways. Eventually we’ll all be back together, and I hope there isn’t [a problem]. I hope that chemistry is there. It’s somewhat up to Patrick as well. How he views those future teams. I know how much he loves playing them and what the Ryder Cup and playing for his country means to him. He talks about it a lot.”

RELATED: Patrick Reed’s not a problem. He’s exactly what golf needs

Reed doesn’t believe his Captain America brand is diminished by the kerfuffle. “I’m still 3-0 in singles,” he told the New York Post.

Whatever trouble Reed’s personality might get himself into, his golf usually gets him out of it. “Anytime something negative has come up about him, whatever it may be, is usually when something follows that is really good,” Gregory said. “It’s because he just goes and digs it out of the dirt. It will just motivate him even more. The kid wants it so bad, and he’ll just add that to his shoulders and find a way to play even better.”

Like him or not, Reed isn’t going anywhere. He’s 28, and his golf only seems to be getting better. You’d probably take the over if the number of majors Reed were to win in his career was set at 1.5. A little team-room drama isn’t going to derail a man who staved off popular challengers like McIlroy, Spieth and Rickie Fowler to hang a green jacket in his closet. Reed is at his best when he lets his clubs do the talking.

“I promise you it’s not going to affect him and not going to weigh on him,” Gregory said. “In his mind it’s over and he wants to move on and earn his place as one of the best players in the world, be on more Ryder Cups in years to come and win more majors.”

The post Patrick Reed against the world appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
While the Americans came out on the business end of the 2018 Ryder Cup, the real bruising came after the match was over. From friendly fire, no less, as Patrick Reed sounded off on his teammates to the New York Times. Reed took issue with Jordan Spieth for breaking up their successful partnership (“The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me. I don’t have any issue with Jordan. When it comes right down to it, I don’t care if I like the person I’m paired with or if the person likes me as long as it works and it sets up the team for success) and captain Jim Furyk for sitting the reigning Masters champ in multiple sessions (“For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice”), while also throwing partner Tiger Woods under the bus for his less-than-stellar performance.

While Reed is no stranger to controversy, his comments were seemingly at odds with his “Captain America” persona, putting that brand into question.

However, speaking at the Hero World Challenge, Reed maintains the nickname still plays.

“No, still 3-0 in [Ryder Cup] singles,” Reed said, according to the Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard. “It’s something that I love and cherish and hopefully will continue playing really good golf when I represent the country and keep on bringing it in those events. Being 3-0 in singles is something cool because you always want to feel like you can be counted on toward the end, especially during a Ryder Cup.”

Although that record is noteworthy, that explanation seems to be missing a larger theme. Whatever linger issues or resentment remain will need to be addressed at some point, as Reed is in the early running to automatically qualify for the 2019 Presidents Cup, led by Woods.

Reed will tee off with Ryder Cup teammate Bubba Watson on Thursday at the Hero.

The post Despite causing Ryder Cup controversy, Patrick Reed still considers himself Captain America: “Still 3-0 in singles” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

He knew he had been part of what might have been the most electrifying singles match in Ryder Cup history. He knew he had thrown just about everything he had at Reed and it hadn’t been quite enough, Reed rolling in a birdie putt at 18 to win, one-up. At one point, McIlroy had birdied four holes in a row—and lost ground.

“If he ever finds that level somewhere other than the Ryder Cup with any regularity he’ll win four, five majors,” McIlroy said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like the way he putted under pressure today. If he can take the emotion he brings to this event and brings to a Sunday at a major…” He paused and shook his head. “It’ll be a sight to see.”

Unfortunately for McIlroy, he got to see it up close on Sunday at Augusta. This wasn’t the screaming, hollering, fist-pumping, ‘Captain America,’ of the Ryder Cup, it was a never blinking when others were charging at him, Patrick Reed.

RELATED: Patrick Reed, the imperfect man, is now the Masters champion

McIlroy’s putter betrayed him on Masters Sunday, but Reed’s Ryder Cup teammates, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth both made serious back nine runs at Reed. He didn’t flinch. He birdied 14 when Spieth pulled even with him; he caught a break every champion needs on 17, hitting the hole with a going-too-fast putt en route to an up-and-down par and then calmly holed the kind of Augusta National three-and-a-half footer that has done in many players, to clinch his victory on 18.

It wasn’t long after Reed put on the green jacket that the moaning about his victory began. People wanted Fowler to finally win a major or Spieth to add a second green jacket or McIlroy to finish off the Grand Slam. Reed’s checkered past: being tossed from the team at Georgia and being highly-unpopular even while leading Augusta State to two national titles, was again front and centre.

Fowler has a smile that makes women melt; Spieth and McIlroy are both the boy next door. Phil Mickelson has become golf’s Yoda, the wise old man who knows all. Anytime Tiger Woods is criticized, his media defenders howl in pain—as does his legion of fans.

Reed? He’s the chunky guy who smiles only on occasion and has a reputation for being flinty and withdrawn. “I do keep my earbuds in most of the time when I’m on the range, so I get it,” he said a couple of years ago. “Guys usually know I’m working, so they don’t come up to chat.”

Dom Furore

The range is pro golf’s sports bar—especially in the afternoon after players have finished for the day. Almost everyone not named Vijay Singh is there to get in some work, but also to swap stories and tell jokes. No one defined the afternoon range better than 1988 PGA champion Jeff Sluman.

“Slu needs three hours to hit one bucket of balls,” his close friend Billy Andrade once said. “The rest of us just need two hours.”

Reed doesn’t need that much time. When he goes to the range he goes there to work. He has a playlist of one song: “Radioactive,” by Imagine Dragons, that he listens to over and over again as he works.

He arrived on tour with the baggage from Georgia and Augusta State dragging behind him and with the earbuds firmly in place during Happy Hour on the range. He dug his public relations hole a little deeper in March of 2014 when, after winning a WGC event at Doral, he said he believed he was one of the five best players in the world.

At that moment—having won three times in eight months—he probably WAS one of the five best players in the world, regardless of what the flawed Official World Rankings said. But golf people aren’t comfortable with anyone who thinks or speaks outside the box. When you win, you’re supposed to thank the sponsors and the volunteers, talk about how grateful you are to your ‘team,’ and if you want to give all or some of the glory to God, that’s OK, too.

Reed didn’t do that. He stood up at age 24 and said, “Hey, I think I can play with anyone.”

There was a lot of chuckling in the locker room—and in media rooms—when he didn’t play as well the next few months. The laughter died quickly when he was one of the few American bright spots in the embarrassing loss for Tom Watson’s team at Gleneagles.

On Saturday night, during the American team meeting which ultimately drew the battle lines between Mickelson and Watson, Mickelson got up and talked about each of his 11 teammates. When he got to Reed he looked at him and said, “Patrick, we need to know you better.”

When he recounted that story, Reed said, “Phil was right. I’ve tried to take that to heart, to be more available to the guys I play with out here.”

He became a Ryder Cup icon after teaming with Spieth at Hazeltine to go 3-1 before his historic win over McIlroy, that put the Americans firmly in control on Sunday.

He finally played well in a major last August, finishing T-2 at the PGA Championship behind Justin Thomas. Prior to that, he’d never finished better than T-12 in a major. Sunday was the first time in five trips to Augusta that he’d finished better than T-22.

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

McIlroy, who is always aware of what other players are doing, wondered in the past if perhaps Reed played too often, not building to the majors the way other top players do. Reed played 29 times on the PGA Tour a year ago, in addition to a number of overseas events—a typical year for him.

“I DO like to play,” Reed said. “A couple years ago I skipped Greensboro to be rested for the playoffs. Drove me nuts. I’m sitting at home watching guys play on a golf course where I WON (2013) and I’m not playing. I know when my kids are older and in school and can’t travel anymore, I’m going to play less. So, for now, I play as much as I can.”

He played five weeks in a row before not playing Houston, meaning (for him) he was well-rested coming to Augusta. Even without hearing screams of, “USA,” every time he made a putt, he had the week of his life, hanging on, even with Fowler and Spieth playing superbly on Sunday. It might not have been a popular victory, but it was a well-deserved one.

One person happy to see Reed win was Tim West, who does sponsor-hospitality for 25 tournaments a year on tour. West’s job means he has to ask players to take time to come speak to sponsors during the week—even when they’re not being paid to do it.

“All I ask out of guys is be straight with me,” West always says. “If you don’t want to do it, just say no. But if you DO say yes, don’t stand me up with some weak excuse. Which, by the way, happens all the time. But never with Patrick. He looks you right in the eye, says yes or no right away and NEVER backs away from a commitment. There is no BS in the man. Out here, that’s refreshing.”

Reed will never be one of golf’s sunshine boys—Fowler, Spieth, Thomas—always saying and doing the right thing. In fact, he often refers to Spieth as, “the golden boy.” But he’ll always be respected for his talent and his grit. If he someday lets more people get to know him better, he’ll probably be better-liked.

“He’s a good guy,” said Bubba Watson, who has gotten to know him. “He’s honest as the day is long. And he’ll always have your back if you’re his friend. Can’t ask for more than that.”

And now, Reed has a green jacket to wear on HIS back.

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