“What it’s done is made the PGA Tour almost two tiers,” Nicklaus said. “All of a sudden the other tournaments become feeders.”

RELATED: Lowry excited to take position on PGA Tour

It was a reasonable reaction. With 11 events sporting $20 million-plus purses (and the Sentry Tournament of Champions offering $15 million to its limited field), the tour’s top players would see those tournaments as “must-plays” — indeed, to be eligible for payouts from the tour’s Player Impact Programme, they can only miss one of those events. Toss in the majors and the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and that amounts to 19 starts on tour for the year, which doesn’t leave a bunch of wiggle room for other events.

Once the new schedule was revealed, there were some tournament directors at the “other” events who wondered the same thing as Nicklaus: How could they attract any top-ranked players in this new landscape?

“Everybody realises the tour is trying to do something to combat LIV Golf, and that’s understandable,” one tournament director, who asked not to be identified, told Golf Digest in October. “We all want to protect the tour and see it continue to grow. But a lot of us can’t believe they did this. Some sponsors are pretty hot.”

It seems too early to tell whether this will become a real problem or not, considering there have always been some tournaments that attracted better fields than others. But so far in this calendar year, the prospects for impressive fields in early tournaments on the West Coast are equal to or better than they’ve been in the most recent years before the COVID-19 pandemic. And that’s with two “elevated” events looming in the next five weeks — the WM Phoenix Open and Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles.

They’re doing a little bit of extra celebrating in the California desert at La Quinta for this week’s American Express after drawing the strongest field they’ve had since maybe Arnold Palmer was a regular competitor. A year after only one of the top-10 players in the World Ranking entered, five of the top seven — Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris — are set to compete for the tournament’s largest-ever purse of $8 million.

At Torrey Pines next week, when the $8.7 million Farmers Insurance Open is played Wednesday-Saturday for the second time, five of the top 10 are entered, with Scheffler and Cantlay not committed (the deadline is Friday), but major winners Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa playing.

Both fields have one of the game’s most popular players in Tony Finau, while the Farmers will get its usual boost of orange-clad devotees to Rickie Fowler, as well as the ardent followers of former Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama. Arguably, the only true stars that either event is missing are World No. 1 Rory McIlroy (who will play at the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour on the Farmers week) and three-time major winner Jordan Spieth.

Neither the close proximity of events with heftier prizes nor the existence of LIV Golf seems to have affected the big-picture prospects of the AmEx and Farmers.

“LIV Golf didn’t take our best golfers,” said Marty Gorsich, the tournament director of the Farmers Open. “They took the villains and took the guys whose names were bigger than their games.”

Gorsich insisted he was not one of those executives who reacted passionately against the notion of elevated events — the tour has since shifted to calling them “designated” events. He repeated an assertion that he’s no doubt used with his sponsors and corporate patrons. “I was not worried in the least,” he said. “Elevated is not elevating an event, it’s elevating a field. Are a few more guys who are ranked going to change who watches this tournament? I don’t think so.”

Pat McCabe, The American Express tournament director, had a bit more of a practical assessment: “There aren’t any of those elevated events in the month of January, so we fall into a perfect spot. That helps us a lot.”

The post What does it take to attract top players to a regular PGA Tour stop? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
On Sunday, the PGA Tour released a statement saying that the embedded balls of Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy during the third round of last week’s Farmers Insurance Open were “virtually the same situation.” And, at that moment, that appeared to be the case. But two days later, the tour contacted McIlroy to tell him that more information had come to light. As it turned out a volunteer had actually stepped on his ball.

McIlroy revealed the news during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

“It’s so weird, the tour got an email on Monday from a volunteer saying that he didn’t tell me at the time and he should have, but he stepped on the ball to find it,” McIlroy said. “I guess at the end of the day I almost took the wrong relief because I should have taken relief for a stepped-on ball, which means you can place it instead of drop it. At the time I didn’t have that information.”

The PGA Tour later confirmed what McIlroy revealed with a statement of its own:

“On Monday evening, the PGA Tour received an email from a tournament volunteer which stated that during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open, he observed Rory McIlroy’s ball—following his second shot on the 18th hole—having accidently been stepped on in the rough by another volunteer during the search for McIlroy’s ball. With this information unknown at the time to McIlroy and the tour, it was reasonable for him to proceed as he did. Having concluded his second shot had been embedded in its own pitch mark, he played his next stroke after correctly taking relief under Rule 16.3. Although the volunteer information was received well after the closing of the competition and did not in any way affect the outcome, the tour nonetheless notified McIlroy on Tuesday afternoon to make him aware.”

MORE: Rory McIlroy sounds off on the USGA/R&A distance statement

The revelation sheds new light on the furor that erupted in the wake of the Reed controversy.

On Saturday, after Reed had pulled his approach into the rough on the par-4 10th at Torrey Pines, he determined the ball had become embedded after being told by a volunteer that she had not seen it bounce when it landed. Video replay showed it had, however, raising questions as to how a ball that bounced forward in the rough could become embedded. Reed himself not that such an act was almost impossible in his post-round comments, but he maintained that his ball was embedded. PGA Tour rules officials said that Reed had followed the Rules of Golf properly, working off the information he had at the time, and was comfortable with how Reed had handled the drop.

Later that day, McIlroy’s third shot on the par-5 18th also settled into the rough. He struggled to find the ball, and when he did, he determined that it was embedded using Rule 16.4. Like Reed had earlier, McIlroy then took relief under Rule 16.3. Officials likewise said that McIlroy acted correctly even when video of the shot emerged showing it also bounced, noting that the two situations were similar and that both players following proper protocols using the information they had at the time.

MORE: Patrick Reed says he’s talked to Xander Schauffele after his critical comment at Farmers: ‘We’re all good’

The connection between the two incidents became a storyline through the remainder of the tournament. McIlroy said that he had a difficult time on Sunday night and began questioning himself on whether he had acted properly in handling his own drop. The news that his ball had been stepped on came as a relief.

“I at least felt better about my actions knowing I did the right thing, that I did take relief for a ball that was embedded or stepped on,” he said. “So it sort was nice that that came to light, because I was questioning myself on Sunday a little bit.

“Did I play by the rules? Did I see something that wasn’t there? It was a bit of a rough Sunday night. I just started to doubt myself a little bit, which is not like me. But I was convinced that it was an embedded ball. Then it’s funny, the tour got an email on Monday that it had been stepped on and the volunteer said something like, I’m so sorry that Rory is being dragged into this scenario, but I didn’t tell him that I actually stood on his ball to find it.”

MORE: The curious Twitter activity of Patrick Reed

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By John Huggan
Coincidentally but appropriately, Patrick Reed was asked exactly 18 questions during his press conference on the eve of the Saudi International, his first competitive appearance since his much-discussed victory at the Farmers Insurance Open last weekend. Only three of those queries (two of which came from a European Tour media official) concerned Reed’s participation in arguably the Old World circuit’s most controversial event. For the former Masters champion, it seems, there is no escaping hot talking points.

First things first though. Before he was subjected to an interrogation on all aspects of the embedded-ball drop he took on the 10th hole at Torrey Pines, Reed went through the almost compulsory pre-requisites after a 17-hour flight. To no one’s surprise, he informed the waiting world that he arrived in the Middle East “jet-lagged like crazy,” that the hospitality at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club is “amazing” and that he is making “huge strides” with his on-going swing changes under the eye of coach David Leadbetter (they are working on more body rotation, less hand action).

Then it was down to the more pressing business, at least for the assembled journalists. Asked if, in the future, he will not be picking up his ball before the arrival of a rules official, Reed took refuge in his now familiar refrain.

“I went through the processes that are in the rules,” he said. “You put the tee down to mark the ball after asking the guys and declaring that you’re going to check to see if the ball is embedded. So you put down the tee to check to see if the ball is embedded. And when it looked like it was, that’s when you call over a rules official to see, not only have him just reconfirm but also to take a drop and figure out what the rules are. That’s one of the rules that has changed from the past. It used to be you dropped at the closest spot; now it’s a club length. So for me it was making sure I was doing the right drop rather than taking an incorrect drop.

“If I waited for a rules official every single time, you worry about pace of play and holding groups up behind you, as well as getting out of position,” Reed continued. “But any time it’s a situation where you don’t know or no one was sure of what it did or didn’t do, that’s when you’re always going to have a rules official come. Any time I hit it, whether it’s in a water hazard or whether it’s by a sprinkler head or any kind of drop, you bring a rules official in just to make sure you’re doing the right drop.”

MORE: The curious Twitter activity of Patrick Reed

Equally unsurprising was Reed’s assertion that he is “not at all” bothered by any implication that his latest PGA Tour victory was in any way overshadowed by controversy. Specifically, he was asked about the comments from World No. 4, Xander Schauffele. The Californian said after the final round at Torrey Pines that talk amongst Reed’s fellow players was “not great” and that he was being “protected by the tour.”

As it turns out, Schauffele had contacted Reed by text. The pair subsequently exchanged messages that have apparently eliminated any potential for awkwardness next time they meet face-to-face.

“I’ve actually talked to Schauffele,” said Reed, who also dismissed any notion that his reputation might cause problems within future U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams. “Him and I actually talked earlier this week. I’m just going to leave it between him and I because really, it’s one of those things that all you can do is try to do the right thing and from that point, move on. We’re good. We’re all good. I’ve always been really good at blocking out noise and focusing on what’s at hand. To be really good at golf, you have to really be mentally strong. That’s the best way to be successful today.”

MORE: Rory McIlroy’s part in the Patrick Reed embedded-ball saga takes new twist with revelation a volunteer actually stepped on his ball

The post Patrick Reed says he’s talked to Xander Schauffele about his critical comments after the Farmers: ‘We’re all good’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Patrick Reed’s behaviour has occasionally been cloaked in smoke. That behaviour appears to extend to the realm of social media.

Reed’s official Twitter handle has long been noted for blocking media and golf fans from viewing Reed’s accounts. In itself this is not newsworthy; plenty of athletes and personalities block users who criticize them, although the amount of people who assert Reed has muted them is prodigious. However, there are still Twitter users who are able to see Reed’s Twitter activity, and one of Reed’s tweets over the weekend was a curious replica of another Twitter account.

Following Reed’s controversial drop during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open, Reed’s official Twitter account sent the following reply at 8:09 PM ET to a Twitter thread involving CBS Sports’ Amanda Balionis: “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.” Twitter users quickly pointed out that the account handle “useGolfFACTS” had sent a very similar message (ultimately sent 16 times) to various Twitter accounts in defence of Reed. The “useGolfFACTS” account’s first message about Reed/Rory was sent at 7:59 PM, the last at 8:44 PM.

The parallels were noteworthy due to year-long speculation that the “useGolfFACTS” account is affiliated with Reed, his family or team. A look into the account’s replies shows heavy activity in defence of Reed from various allegations throughout his career. However, the account has done more than defend Reed, making numerous critical and disparaging remarks toward Reed’s fellow competitors and the PGA Tour.

RELATED: Patrick Reed’s runaway win in the Farmers Insurance Open will be shadowed by questions and controversy

The “useGolfFACTS” handle has routinely knocked Justin Thomas, among the complaints that Thomas didn’t deserve to be on the cover of the PGA Tour’s 2K21 video game, that Thomas “is a taker,” and that Thomas shouldn’t get his $2 million Wyndham Rewards bonus because he didn’t play in the Wyndham Championship. There was also a shot at Thomas’ temperament. “His bad attitude and actions were on full display and it was disrespectful to Niemann-his playing partner,” the account asserted on Jan. 4, 2020.

Xander Schauffele was another of the account’s targets. Also on Jan. 4, 2020, under a Golf Channel headline on Schauffele’s odds to repeat at the 2020 TOC, the “useGolfFACTS” handle replied, “Someone should check his new driver to make sure it is conforming,” alluding to Schauffele’s driver failing R&A compliance at the 2019 Open Championship. The account also alleged Schauffele patted down the rough at the 2020 TOC, attaching a video of Schauffele making practice swings.

The “useGolfFACTS’’ account has also routinely criticized the PGA Tour, making complaints about the tour’s pay structure (“More like Tour greed will kill the golden goose. They should offer all top 125 players a base salary, every year. And they don’t even do that”), pin placements that favour certain players, the tour’s leader board app and the tour’s selection of featured pairings. Other notable comments from the “useGolfFACTS” account include that the green jacket should not have been awarded at the 2020 Masters since no fans were on property and calling the Ryder Cup team selection process into question.

RELATED: Why Rory McIlroy is now part of the Patrick Reed rules flap, and how he (potentially) helps Reed’s cause

But to those who believe Reed’s tweet on Saturday is the smoking gun, Reed’s attorneys say that’s not necessarily the case. In response to a Golf Digest email about Reed’s Saturday night Tweet and his connection with “useGolfFACTS,” Reed’s lawyer, Phillip B. Costa, replied, “Please be advised that the person who manages Patrick Reed’s Twitter and Instagram accounts does not run the @ use GolfFACTS account.” As of writing, a direct message to the “useGolfFACTS” account from Golf Digest has not been returned.

Why does this matter? In addition to ensuring some awkward tournament pairings, proof of Reed’s direct involvement with a Twitter account that disparages the tour and other players would appear to be in breach of a section of the player code of conduct that addresses such public criticism. A PGA Tour spokesperson told Golf Digest the tour has no comment on the matter. As of writing, Golf Digest has not received a response for comment from Thomas or Schauffele.

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The Curious Case of Patrick Reed

The post The curious Twitter activity of Patrick Reed appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
An unforgettable weekend in golf came to a rather forgettable finish on Sunday, with Patrick Reed outlasting a rotating cast of challengers at beefy Torrey Pines. A final-round 68 was good for a five-shot win, and the 30-year-old now has nine PGA Tour victories in his career. Here are five takeaways from Sunday of the Farmers Insurance Open

Patrick Reed, the player

Say what you want about Patrick Reed. It’s all fair game. And odds are, after he put himself in the centre of yet another rules imbroglio on Saturday afternoon, you have a lot of things to say—most of which probably wouldn’t be fit for this family website.

Controversy aside, the man knows how to close a golf tournament. He has now won six of the eight times he’s entered the final round with the lead, and he closed the deal in San Diego without his best ball-striking stuff. Reed has one of the very best short games in the world, and he got up and down six of the seven times he missed a green on Sunday. Those par saves kept him afloat as player after player popped their head near the lead—first it was Jon Rahm, then Sungjae Im, then Viktor Hovland—only for Torrey Pines to pull each of them back to the pack.

Except Reed, who led the field in strokes gained around the green all week.

We stop short of saying the circumstances surrounding the win make it extra impressive, because that would amount to giving credit in a situation where credit might not be warranted. But there seems to be no one else in the game who is as comfortable as he is amid controversy. It calls to mind the 2019 Presidents Cup, where his caddie Kessler Karain’s scuffle with a fan dominated headlines on Saturday. With Karain suspended and his coach on the bag, Reed absolutely dominated his singles match, birdieing five of the first seven holes to bury C.T. Pan. He’d never say it, but you have to think he semi-enjoys, or at least leans into, the villain role.

Donald Miralle

Hovland comes up short

The 23-year-old Norweigan emerged as the top challenger to Reed on Sunday, and he looked poised to tie for the lead after pitching to six feet for a birdie try at the par-5 13th. But he hit one of his worst putts of the week, a shove right off the face, and it went south from there. On 14, his pulled his tee shot into a fairway bunker then smothered his second, eventually needing to get up-and-down for bogey after a penalty shot. His drive on 15 missed right, clipped a tree and finished directly behind said tree’s trunk. A mandatory pitch out from there, and another bogey, and then another cringeworthy bogey at 17 after missing a two-footer. That miss, by the way? Cost him about $350,000.

It wasn’t to be today for Young Hov—which, by the way, is an awesome nickname—but this is yet another positive step, as he’s now posted top-three finishes in three of his last four starts. With Collin Morikawa treading water a bit and Matt Wolff dealing with an injury, Hovland officially moves to first place in the never-ending Hovland-Morikawa-Wolff power rankings. Yes, we’re still talking about that.

Katelyn Mulcahy

The top-10 king strikes again

Without looking at Google or Justin Ray’s Twitter feed, which player has the most top-10 finishes worldwide since the beginning of last year? Dustin Johnson? Rory McIlroy? Good guesses, but the correct answer is Will Zalatoris.

It started on the Korn Ferry Tour last summer, where he emerged by far as the best player on that circuit. His stellar play earned on that tour got him a spot in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, where he finished T-6, which got him into the next week’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, where he was the betting favorite before finishing T-8. The 24-year-old Wake Forest grad eagled 18 on Sunday at Torrey Pines to get in the house at eight under, good enough for T-7 and his 14th top-10 since Jan. 1, 2020. The man belongs, and don’t be surprised if he pushes hard for a Ryder Cup spot this year. Yes, he’s that good. He just needs more starts in the biggest events. A good way to get those is keep posting top 10 finishes.

Tony Finau’s driving iron has cost him majorly

Another week that saw Tony Finau enter Sunday with a chance to win, and another week that saw Tony FInau leave with a big check but no trophy. It boils down to that. This was Finau’s 36th top-10 finish since his lone PGA Tour win at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, and he’s made more than $18 million on tour since then. But man, does the guy play some head-scratching golf down the stretch.

Last week at The American Express, it was a hooked driving iron into the water on 11 that torpedoed his chances. On Sunday in San Diego, it happened at 18. Sitting in the middle of the fairway, Finau was three back of Reed—so he likely needed to make eagle to have a chance, and even then he’d need some help. But still, not dead at all at a course as hard as Torrey. He pulled that same driving iron again, flushed it … and came up well short. Splash. Bogey.

“I hit it right at it, hit a really good shot,” he said after the round, “but like I said, my ball was barely in an old divot, a quarter of the ball sitting down just enough to—I hit down on it a little harder to make sure I got it out of there and it kind of ballooned on me.”

That’s tough luck, but you also would think he would know that might happen and would factor that into his yardage. Guess not. On to the next event.

An absolutely wild week of golf comes to an end

What a dramatic weekend! First the Reed controversy, then the Twitter-burner controversy, then the Rory controversy—the rules officials even made a few appearances on the back-nine Sunday just for good measure. A reminder that an electric golf tournament can emerge from nowhere. Who needs Tiger Woods?

The post Patrick Reed holds off a rotating cast of challengers to win the Farmers Insurance Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Not the howling wind that shut down the course on Monday. Not the hail that covered the greens on Friday. Not the leader board on Sunday—which was major-like in boasting five of the top-20 players in the world contending. And certainly not the circumstances surrounding the polarizing man who ultimately won $1.35 million, his ninth title on the PGA Tour and a surfboard.

Reed stirred controversy at the 10th hole on Saturday when he declared an embedded lie in the rough despite his ball bouncing to that spot. So when he found the rough again at 10 on Sunday from a perfect lie in the fairway, there were probably some who believed that a sour portion of golf karma would be served.

But that’s the fascinating thing about Reed: He has a remarkable ability to cancel the noise and excel under the kind of pressure that turns rocks into diamonds. That’s why he’s been “Captain America” in the Ryder Cup. Why he won his first major at the 2018 Masters despite the chatter that week of his estrangement from his parents, who watched the final round just miles away from their home in Augusta.

And he did it again at Torrey Pines, which certainly played like a major, with Reed scoring only six under for three rounds on the South after opening the tournament with a 64 on the North Course. (Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate finished at one under for four rounds in the 2008 U.S. Open here.)

At No. 10 on Sunday, with Reed leading by one shot over Viktor Hovland, it could have all unravelled when he was short-sided over the back of the green, 18 feet behind the flagstick. You’ve got to figure the most sarcastically uttered line among viewers at that point was: “Plugged lie?” But Reed gazed down at where the ball appeared to be—it couldn’t be picked up by the cameras—set up, and fashioned a magnificent pitch that settled three feet from the cup for a par save.

Reed survived any bluster from the golf gods, and from there he made eight straight pars—three of them impressive saves—and a birdie at the last to shoot four-under-par 68 and finish at 14 under. Five shots clear of five chasers, Reed is the biggest runaway winner in the Farmers since Tiger Woods’ last regular-tour victories here in 2013 (four strokes).

Hovland, trying for his second win in just over two months and the third of his young career, faded with three bogeys on the back to score 71 and finish in a tie for second with Tony Finau (69), Henrik Norlander (69), Xander Schauffele (69) and Ryan Palmer (70).

Patrick Reed waves after making an eagle putt on the sixth green during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Ben Jared

For Reed, who said he was proud of the result because he’s been working on a revamped swing with instructor David Leadbetter, one word stood out in describing the win: resilience. He was speaking of the golf, but it applied to everything the entire week.

“I think that’s the biggest thing is when you play a U.S. Open-type golf course, where you play a place that’s as long as this is, you have to have resilience,” Reed said. “You look at all the great players throughout times, all of them are really resilient. It doesn’t really matter what’s going on around them, what’s going on on the golf course, whether they’re getting good breaks or bad breaks, they seem to really figure out a way to get the job done.

“That’s golf,” Reed added with a grin. “That’s what it’s supposed to do. That’s why I love the game. It throws punches at you, you throw punches at it, and at the end of the day hopefully you’re the one standing.”

Ranked 11th in the world coming into the Farmers, Reed will climb back into the top 10 with the win that gives him a victory in each of the last four seasons.

But CBS analyst Nick Faldo may have said it best when Reed was walking up the 18th hole on Sunday. A “dark cloud” will hang over this one, the eight-time major winner concluded.

MORE: John Feinstein—Patrick Reed needs to change his approach

The mixed reaction to Reed’s win already was expressed in the responses of fans and at least two high-profile players. As Reed played the final hole on Sunday, and within a matter of seconds, people on balconies at the adjacent Lodge at Torrey Pines yelled, loudly enough for Reed to hear, in sequence “Let’s go Patrick!” “F—ing cheater!” “Captain America!” and “Cheaters prosper!” Reed, wearing red, white and blue, tipped his cap to the “Captain America” comment.

After his round, Schauffele said he hadn’t seen the video of Reed from Saturday, adding, “I just have heard talk amongst the boys out here.

“I would not put myself and create a situation like that,” Schauffele said of Reed’s Saturday controversy. “If my ball’s embedded, I usually will wait and call someone and kind of wait until everyone’s on the same page, wait to look at the video. So I try to avoid situations for that reason. He did everything by the book, according to the official and everyone stood by there.”

Then Schauffele delivered a more pointed and possibly damaging assessment: “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.”

Rory McIlroy found himself caught up in the swirl of Reed’s controversy when it was pointed on social media that he, too, had used the “embedded ball” rule—without consulting an official—to get relief after playing his second shot on the par-5 18th hole Saturday. The tour released a statement on Sunday morning saying it had reviewed McIlroy’s actions and that they were deemed proper, just as they had said was the case with Reed the previous evening.

McIlroy said after a fourth-round 73 that tied him for 16th place that before seeing the video of Reed, “I was sort of giving … Patrick the benefit of the doubt because it seemed to me like it was a bit of a storm in a teacup. You’re trying to deal with the info that you have at the time, and the info that Patrick had at the time was the ball hadn’t bounced, and the info I had at the time was the same. I went down, and on my life that ball of mine was plugged; it was in its own pitch mark, so I took relief.

Patrick Reed tees off on the seventh hole of the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Donald Miralle

“[Saturday] was one of those things that I guess Patrick and I both went on the information that we had and made those determinations. I guess people can jump to conclusions, but at the same time we were, I guess, well within our rights to do what we did. … My ball was certainly plugged on 18, Patrick felt his ball was plugged on 10, and we proceeded on from there.”

The comparisons between the challenging questions Reed faced after his Masters victory and his Farmers win fall short in one important area. At Augusta, Reed was pressed on matters of his private life, and anybody who attended or saw the Sunday evening press conference knows just how painfully awkward the exchange was on the subject. Reed set his jaw and offered, “I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments.”

This time, however, the 30-year-old Reed is being questioned by many in the golf community for his competitive integrity. There are plenty of high-profile voices who are perplexed by the way Reed handled Saturday’s situation on 10—including Nick Faldo, Ian Baker Finch, Frank Nobilo and Dottie Pepper from the CBS broadcast crew that televised the weekend rounds, and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee—from picking up his ball before anyone else could see the lie to his response afterward that he wouldn’t have made the “embedded ball” rules choice had he known his ball bounced before settling in the rough.

Reed handled the questions about it with aplomb, but it left others queasy, considering his rules controversy at the 2019 Hero World Challenge, when cameras showed him twice sweeping sand away from behind his ball during practice swings. The result was a two-stroke penalty that Reed both acknowledged, but then minimized by saying it was just one camera angle.

On Sunday evening, Reed was again asked several questions about the controversy, but said he did not see it tarnishing the victory. He repeated that tour officials said he handled his decision at 10 on Saturday properly. “At that point it put it to bed for me,” he said, “and I was able to move on and come out today and do what I was supposed to do.”

Every round on tour, players use the rules to their advantage, as Reed and McIlroy did on Saturday. Ultimately, only Reed knows with any certainty whether his ball was plugged or not, and the rules say he’s the only one whose opinion matters. He may not win in the court of golf’s public discourse, but Reed has proven time and again that he doesn’t care much what other people think.

The post Patrick Reed’s runaway win in the Farmers Insurance Open will be shadowed by questions and controversy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

During his third round, Rory McIlroy played his second shot on the par-5 18th hole from right of the fairway, his ball flying 186 yards and coming to rest in the right rough, 69 yards short of the green. When McIlroy went up to play his third shot, he struggled to find the ball and then when he did, he saw the lie and questioned if his ball was embedded. McIlroy lifted the ball, allowed under Rule 16.4, and determined that the ball indeed was embedded in the wet rough. He then went through the process of taking relief, cleaning the ball and dropping it within a club length. He’d go ahead and hit his third shot short of the green and eventually made a par to finish with two-under 70, leaving him seven under for the tournament and three shots off the lead entering the final round.

MORE: Patrick Reed says he handled his embedded-ball situation ‘perfectly’

Subsequently, video of McIlroy’s shot surfaced, and it added a new wrinkle to the story.

Rory McIlroy takes embedded ball relief on No. 18 during Round 3. pic.twitter.com/9D4HH4Gv5g

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 31, 2021

As was the case in Reed’s situation, video of McIlroy’s ball landing showed that it had actually taken a bounce before coming to rest in the rough, rather than stopping on the fly. In the moment, McIlroy did not know that his ball had taken the hop, which was also the case in Reed’s situation. (What is unclear from McIlroy’s video is whether his ball might have bounced and then fallen back down in his original pitch mark, although McIlroy believed that to be the case.)

Both players deemed that their balls were embedded, which is their right under the rules. The question for many, however, in light of the videos, is whether a ball could realistically embed after such a small hop. It was this gray area that Reed has gotten caught up in, having said himself after his Saturday round that it was “almost impossible” for a ball to embed in that situation, his past rules run-ins also muddying the situation. McIlroy does not have the same past baggage, and was confident that his ball had settled back in his pitch mark.

“So from what happened, like as everyone knows, if a ball bounces up and comes to rest in a pitch mark or in a lie that’s not the pitch mark that it made, then of course it’s very hard for it to be embedded,” McIlroy said after his Sunday round, “but I feel the way my ball was definitely in its own pitch mark, it had to be, and that was why I was so confident to take relief and do what I did.”

With McIlroy’s video released, the PGA Tour issued a statement on Sunday to further clarify the situation in both instances. In the process, the tour reiterated that both players had proceeded correctly given what they knew in the moment.

“John Mutch, Ken Tackett and Gary Young have reviewed the Rory McIlroy videos from No. 18 yesterday and determined that it was virtually the same situation that Patrick Reed faced on No. 10 during the third round. It was reasonable for both players to conclude—based on the fact that they did not see the ball land, but given the lie of the ball in soft course conditions—that they proceed as the Rule allows to an [sic] potentially embedded ball. They marked, lifted and assessed the situation to determine if the ball was embedded. Patrick went one step further and called in a Rules Official to be sure his assessment would not be questioned (although this step is not required). Both players took proper relief under the Rule 16/3. The Committee is comfortable with how both players proceeded given the fact that they used the evidence they had at the time.”

The post Why Rory McIlroy is now part of the Patrick Reed rules flap, and how he (potentially) helps Reed’s cause appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
It took just 30 days to get our first real rules controversy of 2021 (did someone speak this into existence or what?). Surprise, surprise, the man at the centre of it all is Patrick Reed.

Here are four takeaways from an eventful Day 3 at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Patrick Reed rules controversy? You don’t say
Our Tod Leonard, who is on site at Torrey this week, will have much, much more on this Patrick Reed rules saga, but it would be completely silly to not at least mention it here. It has lit Golf Twitter aflame, just as all rules controversies do, especially the ones that involve Reed.

Co-leader Patrick Reed recaps his third round, including the 10th hole ruling. pic.twitter.com/lgv82A2hlv

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 31, 2021

Reed’s history, as we’re all aware, includes more than a few rules run-ins, and he did himself no favors Saturday afternoon on the 10th hole. After badly hooking his approach shot into the left rough, Reed arrived at his ball and picked it up before calling over a rules official. That’s, uh, something you should not do, though Reed insisted he handled the situation exactly how he was supposed to. By the way, he lifted it thinking the ball embedded on the fly, but a video replay—which showed his ball bounce—made that appear highly unlikely.

Barring a shocking turn of events, there will be no penalty, and Reed will begin the final round in a tie for the lead at 10 under. The whole thing is very bizarre, and, unfortunately, it’s not all that surprising.

Katelyn Mulcahy

Now, for some good vibes—Carlos Ortiz is tied for the lead!
At his first PGA Tour victory at the Vivint Houston Open in November, there were a small number of fans firmly in Carlos Ortiz’s corner, and it provided a very special finish. On Sunday, that same group of people at the Houston Open, plus just about everybody else who watches golf, will likely be in his corner again.

How did Ortiz get here? He shot a round that rivalled Viktor Hovland’s second-round 65. On a day that many of the leaders struggled with the difficult South Course, Ortiz posted a six-under 66, which gave him the solo lead at one point before Reed birded 18. He gained an absurd 7.57 strokes on the field, two shy of what Hovland gained on Friday, though you could argue Ortiz’s performance was just as impressive given it was on moving day. The Houston Open victory (over Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama, mind you) was a life-changer, but a win at Torrey against this field would be far bigger for the 29-year-old from Mexico.

Ben Jared

It’s getting depressing at this point for Tony Finau
We really don’t want to pile on, but my goodness, what the hell, Tony Finau? A two-over 74 on Saturday, when all he needed was 71 or 72 to be within two of the lead, on a course where coming from behind is the norm. To be clear, he’s only four back, and could very well make a run. But what has he shown you in the past would lead you to believe he will? Would be happy, HAPPY to be wrong, but right now I’m just depressed about it (his bank account ain’t depressed, that’s for sure).

Katelyn Mulcahy

Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm still very much in it

As a trio, Rahm, Scott and McIlroy only went two under, but none of them went backwards (unlike a certain someone mentioned above). Given the pedigree of all three of these guys, there’s a very strong chance the winner comes from this group, though were certainly not sleeping on Sam Burns (looking for his first tour win), Lanto Griffin (looking for No. 2) and Viktor Hovland, who showed some impressive fight in birdieing the final two holes after making a double at the 14th. Long story short, it’s going to be chaos on Sunday at Torrey.

The post Patrick Reed rules controversy hanging over Farmers Insurance Open like a black cloud appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
SAN DIEGO—In the aftermath of Patrick Reed’s rules controversy at the 2019 Hero World Challenge, where he was penalised two strokes for twice sweeping sand from behind his ball on practice swings and dealt with the “cheater” label, Paul Azinger opined, “It’s pretty important for Patrick Reed to get it right at this point in his career, and he’s going to have to get it right for a long time to come. We’re going to watch him like a hawk with the cameras.”

Those words resonated on Saturday in the Farmers Insurance Open, when Reed found himself in the middle of another rules brouhaha that was fueled by video reviews and the commentators on the CBS broadcast.

Reed, having shot 5-under 31 on the front nine and leading the tournament by four strokes at the time, hit a fairway bunker shot on the South Course’s par-4 10th hole that came to rest in the rough to the left of the green. On the broadcast, Reed was shown calling over-rules official Brad Fabel, though—and this is where the second-guessing began—he already had removed his ball from what he determined was an embedded lie that affords him a free drop.

Co-leader Patrick Reed recaps his third round, including the 10th hole ruling. pic.twitter.com/lgv82A2hlv

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 31, 2021

“They [the marshals] said it didn’t bounce,” Reed told the official, “so I checked it and I believe it broke ground. But I want you to make the call.”

“What are you talking about?” Fabel asked.

“Embedded ball,” Reed said.

Of course, by then, the official couldn’t make a clear determination of Reed’s lie.

Reed repeated, “It seems like it broke ground, but I want you to double-check. They said it didn’t bounce.” Reed poked his finger into an indention in the deep grass and the official also did so to feel if there was a “lip” created by the plugged ball.

Reed was allowed to take a drop without penalty and made a 14-foot putt for a par save. He faltered from there, suffering bogeys at the 11th, 13th, 14th and 16th, with a horseshoe lip out on a birdie try at 17, and finished with a 2-under-par 70 that has him tied for the at 10 under with Carlos Ortiz (66).

The question about Reed’s decision got more interesting when, several minutes after Reed finished the 10th, CBS showed a replay of his approach at the hole, the ball taking a knee-high bounce before settling down, contradicting what Reed said he was told.

“I’ve never seen a ball plug on the second bounce,” said CBS analyst Nick Faldo after seeing the replay.

CBS anchor Jim Nantz said of the circumstances, “The optics aren’t great.”

After the round, lead PGA Tour Senior Tournament Official John Mutch reviewed the videotape with Reed and playing parners Will Gordon and Robby Shelton, and he determined that Reed handled the situation properly, including asking a volunteer if the ball had bounced and notifiying his playing partners that he believed he had an embedded ball. Mutch said in an interview with reporters that Reed was entitled to determine if his ball was embedded without the help of a rules official.

“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,” Mutch said.

After the round, a seemingly relaxed and composed Reed was run through a gantlet of media outlets who were asking the same questions about the controversy.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, obviously,” Reed said, “but at the end of the day when you finish a round, and the head rules official comes up to you and has the video and shows everything that went down to the whole group and says that you’ve done this perfectly, you did this the exact right way, the protocols you did were spot on—at that point, I feel great about it.”

There was one aspect of Reed’s explanation that may follow him into the future: He admitted that he would not have checked for a plugged lie had he known his ball bounced because it would be “nearly impossible” for it to have become 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. “You would have just played it 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 didn’t see the ball bounce, then you obviously are going to go off of that.”

The post Patrick Reed says he ‘perfectly’ handled controversial plugged-ball decision in Farmers Insurance Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
Brooks Koepka is treading unfamiliar ground this month. For the first time since he’s been a pro, he’s making his debut in two events: The American Express Championship in the California desert (still called “The Hope” by diehards), and the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. It’s somewhat curious, really, that he’s played in neither, considering he’s in his eighth season on the PGA Tour. But he’s a Florida guy who found the January downtime after Kapalua perfect as his brethren battled on some bumpy poa annua greens.

So why did Koepka alter his schedule in 2021? Three very compelling reasons: He missed out on Maui, with no wins last year while not qualifying for the Tour Championship; he’s feeling almost fully fit again after his struggles with knee and hip injuries last year; and here’s the biggie—the trip to San Diego is a reconnaissance mission to prepare for the U.S. Open that will be played on the Torrey Pines South Course in June.

As we know, the majors are Koepka’s self-fulfilling obsession—he won two U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships in 2017-19—and he couldn’t pass up the chance for a preview run next week, with the expected birdie fest at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club this week serving as an appetizer.

“I thought it was important to play Torrey Pines and just see the golf course one more time before we go play it in the summer,” Koepka said in a video press conference on Tuesday. “One of the things I like [is] to play one round, or at least one tournament before I get things started, and I feel like playing this week was beneficial, just to really get the game in flow, just to see where you’re at this week and make some adjustments going into next week.”

Koepka, 30, noted that he’s won two majors on poa greens, but he’s “not the most comfortable on them.”

“Just want to see where I’m at in the beginning part of this year,” Koepka explained. “Because I feel good … my game, I’m starting to see better results in practicing, can practice longer, can practice a little bit harder. Everything is starting to come around back to where it’s what I’m used to.”

Koepka said he’s excited to get started after treatments on his body with physicans and trainers in San Diego have left him feeling the best he has since 2018. He said two weeks ago he underwent a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment that uses the patient’s own platelets to help with healing. An ultrasound showed “barely any tear on it,” Koepka said.

With a knee injury that led to hip problems, Koepka was not himself for much of last season and, with huge regret, he had to shut himself down and couldn’t attempt a three-peat in the U.S. Open when it was played at Winged Foot in September. At the time, his knee was in terrible shape. He said when doctors compared an MRI in September to one taken in July, there was an alarming difference.

“They were surprised even at how much the tear had gotten bigger,” Koepka said. “They were like, ‘man, if it was a little more recent we might contemplate surgery.’ “

Koepka, who tied for second in the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August before the pain got worse, went to work on rehab and started the new wraparound season with two strong finishes in October-—T-5 in the Vivant Houston Open and T-7 in the Masters.

With the former World No. 1 having fallen to No. 12, there’s every indication Koepka will be back contending, and this new schedule gives him a chance to do so that much sooner.

“I don’t really put too much emphasis on last year,” he said. “My confidence is still high. I’ve seen so much better results, so much better in my practice sessions now that I’m healthy.”

His bravado hasn’t waned. Asked what would be a successful season, Koepka said without hesitating, “A couple of wins and a couple of majors.”

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