By Alex Myers
Patrick Reed insists hecklers outside the ropes at PGA Tour events don’t bother him. But at this week’s Players Championship, he’s already worried about taking a little verbal abuse from someone inside the ropes.

On the eve of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, caddies get their crack at TPC Sawgrass’ famed 17th hole as part of the Players Caddie Challenge in honour of Bruce Edwards. And Reed’s looper, Kessler Karain hit the island green for the first time since he’s been on the job. Now the boss is feeling some extra pressure on the par 3.

At Reed’s pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, he was asked if he was worried about dealing with rowdy fans, in particular on one of the most famous—and loud—holes in all of golf. Here was the 2018 Masters champ’s response:

“I mean, no, not really. For me the biggest thing on 17, it was today — Kessler, it’s the first time he’s actually hit the green. Normally he hits it in the water, so that means I cannot hit it in the water the next four days because if I do, if I hit in the water once, I won’t hear the end of it until next year.”

If you’re thinking, that’s one bold employee, well, Kessler also happens to be Reed’s brother-in-law. So yeah, he would definitely hear about it if he rinsed one.

How does Reed attack the hole in general? By not attacking the pin no matter where it is positioned on the island green.

“So I just got to go out there and I’ve always played that hole somewhat conservative, I’ve never really taken on too many of those flags,” Reed said. “The front flag is obviously—you’re trying to fly it past and kind of bring it back down to it. And back flag you’re trying to hit to the middle of the green. That right flag being a drawer of the golf ball I don’t ever really go for, so for me it’s just kind of put the ball in the middle of the green and let my putter try to work.”

Considering Reed currently ranks third on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting, that sounds like a smart strategy. Both for trying to win the tournament and for trying to keep his brother-in-law from talking smack.

The post Why Patrick Reed has never felt so much pressure to hit the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
A difficult week in which partisan crowds have heckled U.S. Presidents Cup team member Patrick Reed in the wake of his rules violation at the Hero World Challenge became worse on Saturday at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

After Reed, playing with partner Webb Simpson, lost his morning four-ball match, 5 and 3, dropping his record on the week to 0-3, Kessler Karain, Reed’s caddie and brother-in-law, got into an altercation with a fan.

Multiple outlets, including ESPN, reported that Karain shoved a fan after the fan lashed out at Reed. The reports are based on a statement that Karain provided the outlets.

“As a caddie one of your jobs is to protect your player. And unlike several other sports, in golf fans can get pretty close to Athletes,” Karain said as part of the statement. “We have been known for having fun with some good banter, but after hearing several fans in Australia for 3 days some had taken it too far, I had enough. And this gentleman was one of them. I got off the cart and shoved him, said a couple things, probably a few expletives. Security came and I got back in [the] cart and left. I don’t think there’s one caddy I know that could blame me.”

At the end of play on Saturday, the PGA Tour announced that Karain will not be working as Reed’s caddie during Sunday’s singles match. Kevin Kirk, Reed’s longtime swing coach, who has been at Royal Melbourne all week, will replace Karain on the bag when Reed plays C.T. Pan in the day’s third match. The tour said it had no further comment on the incident.

“I respect the tour’s decision,” Reed said in a release. “We are all focused on winning the Presidents Cup tomorrow.”

Exactly how fans would react to Reed had been a major question since the Americans arrived in Australia on Monday, after Reed’s two-stroke penalty at the Hero the previous weekend for moving sand in a waste bunker, which was deemed to have helped improve his line of play. International team members Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith stated that they thought it would be OK for fans to let Reed hear it about his rules violation.

“I don’t have any sympathy for anyone that cheats,” Smith said. “I hope the crowd absolutely gives it to not only him, but everyone (on the American team) next week.”

When Reed arrived on the first tee for Thursday morning’s opening four-ball matches, the jeers began, and Reed knew that he was going to be in for a long week.

For the most part, Reed remained calm in the face of the clamour. One of the few public acknowledgements of the matter came on Friday, during his foursomes match. On the 11th green, Reed was standing over a putt when he heard a jeer. He made the putt, but then responded by using his putter in a shovelling motion.

Patrick Reed having some fun with the crowd. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/RFEz6kgaUQ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 13, 2019

The distractions off the course have not helped Reed’s play on it. Partnered in the first three sessions with Simpson, the duo had been defeated all three times. Given the poor performance, U.S. captain Tiger Woods elected not to play Reed in Saturday afternoon’s foursomes matches.

Of course, Woods will need Reed to come to play on Sunday, the U.S. team trailing the Internationals, 10-8, entering the final session. It was already going to be a difficult task. Now it’s one made even more so by the strange events of Saturday.

The post Patrick Reed’s caddie gets into altercation with fan, forced to sit out Sunday singles appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
Patrick Reed’s victory at the 2018 Masters etched him into golf’s history books. But how familiar are you with the year’s first major champion?

If you’re a golf fan, you likely knew Reed for his finger-wagging and “hushing” at past Ryder Cups, his gun-slinging style of golf, which hadn’t yet resulted in any major championships—but made the 27-year-old stand out for his brashness in a sport that seems to lack those personality types.

Here are a few other things you need to know about Reed:

His wife, Justine, used to caddie for him—including in his first win on the PGA Tour when he outdueled Jordan Spieth at the 2013 Wyndham Championship.

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

When Justine became pregnant with the couple’s first child, Windsor Wells, Justine’s brother, Kessler Karain, took over. He remains Reed’s current caddie—including who he won with at Augusta National.

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Yes, he famously—or was it infamously—declared himself a top-five player in the world after winning a WGC at Doral in 2014.

(Photo by Juan Salas/Icon SMI/Corbis via Getty Images)

The win was Reed’s third victory in seven months. The 23-year-old received some backlash at the time—considering he hadn’t yet played in a major championship.

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Reed’s father, Bill, gave his son a set of plastic clubs when Reed was born.

(Photo courtesy of Bill Reed)

By age 9, the Reeds would drive to Hank Haney’s ranch in McKinney, Texas, to practice all day. As Reed told our Guy Yocom in 2016: “I’d get there at 7:30 in the morning on snowy days, turn on the heater and hit until noon. I’d go inside, eat a cheeseburger, then resume hitting until dark. You know those huge pails of balls the size of laundry baskets? I’d go through four of those a day. I’d get these world-class blisters on the fourth finger of both hands. I went through a lot of pain. I felt like I was paying a price. I don’t think you can hit as many balls as I did without getting to be pretty good.”

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Patrick’s coach at Haney’s facility, Peter Murphy, showed Reed videos of Haney teaching Tiger.

(Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Tiger’s determination not only inspired Reed to get better, but Reed starting wearing red and black, like Tiger does on Sundays, out of respect.

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Before his Sunday singles duel at the 2016 Ryder Cup against Rory McIlroy, USA vice-captain Tiger Woods noticed Reed was a little off on the range. He had his own way to loosen him up.

(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

“Hey, Patrick,” Tiger said, according to John Feinstein in his book Inside the Ryder Cup. “Come here a minute.”

“I thought sure he was going to give me a pep talk, say something about my swing or about just relaxing and not trying too hard,” Reed told Feinstein. “I walked over there. He had his arms folded. I waited. He looked really serious.

“And then he told me a dirty joke.”

“It was actually the perfect thing to do,” Reed told Feinstein. “It just broke the tension. I went back to hitting balls, and all of a sudden I was loose as could be. I was ready.”

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Reed went on to beat McIlroy, 1 up, at Hazeltine, in what has been dubbed one of the best singles matches in Ryder Cup history.

(Ramsey Cardy/Getty Images)

What happened at the eighth hole helped ensure the match was an instant classic. Rory turned to the entire crowd, raising his arms and screaming “I can’t hear you!” after he rolled in a 50-footer for birdie. Promptly, Reed rolled in his 25-foot birdie to halve the hole—and wagged his finger at Rory, as if to say “not so fast.” The two gave each other a smile and a fist pump as they went onto the next hole. The duo matched birdies the entire time in one of the most emotional displays of an emotional match.

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Beyond his choice of Sunday attire, Reed is extremely superstitious.

(Photo by Chris Condon/PGA TOUR)

He told Golf Digest in a My Shot with Guy Yocom: “I’ve only played balls with the number 3. I always have exactly 12 balls in my bag. I mark my ball tails-side up with a 1927 quarter. I carry exactly six tees in my pocket, and if I start breaking them, I have to get down to zero tees before I reload a fresh six.”

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Reed currently works with Kevin Kirk, a pro from The Woodlands Country Club outside Houston, near the Reeds’ home.

(Patrick Smith)

Among the things, Kirk and Reed have worked on are getting Reed’s tempo and rhythm right in his driver swing. Reed’s swing was never more in sync than at Augusta National—where his helicopter finish was on display throughout the week.

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When Reed was 10, he stopped wearing shorts in tournaments—after he realized pros never wore shorts in tournaments.

According to Shane Ryan’s book Chasing the Tiger, Ryan says Reed would wear khaki pants even in the heart of summer in Texas.

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After starting college at the University of Georgia, Reed transferred to Augusta University (then Augusta State), where he helped his new school win two NCAA golf championships.

Reed shares a laugh with Oklahoma State’s Peter Uihlein while waiting to tee off during their match at the 2010 NCAA Championship at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn. Reed beat Uihlein, 4 and 2, as Augusta State won the team title over the Cowboys. (NCAA Photos)

The Jaguars beat a strong Oklahoma State team that featured top amateurs Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffmann and Kevin Tway in 2010, and defeated Reed’s former school, Georgia, in the 2011 finals for back-to-back NCAA titles.

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Reed’s college experience was rocky at times.

Reed left Georgia as a freshman for undisclosed reasons. Published reports allege Reed broke rules during qualifying rounds as well as took items from teammates’ lockers (both of which Reed denies). At Augusta State, his teammates were also reportedly standoffish with Reed. While going 6-0 in match play in the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Championships, Reed left to turn pro at the end of his junior year.

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Reed’s relationship with his parents is also complicated.

Neither his mother, Jeannette, or father were invited to Reed’s wedding in December 2012 and the family, including Reed’s sister, Hannah, hasn’t spoken to Patrick in several years. The family watched Reed win the Masters from their home in Augusta, Ga., just miles away from Augusta National.

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He won the Masters with a pair of wedges from a new equipment company, Artisan Golf.

(Photo by Andrew Redington)

Reed doesn’t have a deal with the main club company, and his bag shows the freedom he has to play any and all equipment. At the Masters, he used a Ping G400 LST driver, which he favours for its low-spin qualities, an old Nike fairway wood, an Odyssey putter and wedges from this new brand started by former Nike club makers.

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Reed’s yardage book is so American.

Captain America, as Reed has been dubbed, carries a number of USA-themed gear with him—including his yardage book, 2016 Ryder Cup umbrella. He’s even been known to wear his past USA team uniform outside of the Ryder Cup.

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A 2031 AJGA bag tag hangs on Reed’s golf bag.

Reed kept his own AJGA bag tag on his bag as he first came on tour. He now has one for his

And with the birth of his second child, Barrett Benjamin Reed, in December 2017, he’s added a second tag.

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You’ll often spot Reed on the range with earbuds, listening to the same song on repeat: “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons.

He told me in 2013: “It’s the perfect tempo to swing to—and it pumps me up.” The song even made Nick Faldo’s call on the 72nd hole on Sunday … Faldo said: “Welcome to the new age, the new age.”

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Like most golfers, Reed has thought often about winning the Masters. And he lets his mind wander into his practice.

“I dream very little when I’m sleeping and a ton when I’m awake,” Reed told Golf Digest in 2016. “I still do the practice-green thing of having a putt to win the Masters, the announcers whispering in the background in their dramatic way, a huge gallery there, the whole thing. I’ve never missed one of those putts, mainly because I make sure it’s a two-footer, so winning is a bygone conclusion. Positive reinforcement, you know.”

The post 17 things you need to know about new Masters champion Patrick Reed appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Caddy Kessler Karain felt compelled to intervene just before his brother-in-law boss pegged it up at  10.15am, reminding Patrick Reed that he’s well, you know, Patrick Reed, the Ryder Cup superhero.

The message clearly got through with the world No.23 rattling off back-to-back birdies at either end of his round and seven in all to nab the first round lead with a 65 at Jumeirah Golf Estates Thursday. Justin Rose and Scott Hend are a shot further back while six players share fourth on -5, including defending champion Matthew Fitzpatrick. Rose has replaced Fleetwood atop the predicted Race to Dubai standings after the long-time leader stumbled to a one-over 73 while Sergio Garcia opened with a 70 but needs a lot more magic to feature in the order-of-merit conversation.

It was certainly satisfying for Reed after the 27-year-old Texan made the most of an unwanted weekend off at last week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico after shooting 70-72.

“I feel like the hard work I did with my coach right after México really paid off coming to this week,” Reed started before revealing the full truth. “I felt like yesterday I put in a lot of good work. I felt like the swing was right where it needed to be, and you know, I woke up this morning, had this really awful pain in my back, close to my shoulder.

“The warmup wasn’t how I wanted to. I was kind of spraying it, and then my caddy just looked at me and reminded me, ‘Hey, you’re a gamer, not a range guy. Let’s get off to a good start, hit some fairways and hit some greens.’

“Any time you can start birdie-birdie, it gets you started and I was able to right the ship and make some putts and hit some good shots.”

Like this one on 18 to finish with a flourish:

Birdie the last
Take the lead

65 for @PReedGolf. ? pic.twitter.com/x0VlprXsO5

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 16, 2017

It’s certainly not bad for a guy who is only playing Dubai to ensure he keeps his card for the 2017-18 European Tour season. The DP World is his fifth event outside of the majors and the WGCs after Hong Kong, the Scottish Open, the Porsche European Open and Presidents Cup – the latter much to Reed’s surprise.

“It was a pretty easy decision to kind of come over and play in this event. I was lucky, I thought I needed two since I didn’t know Presidents Cup counted as on event. It was nice enough to find out Presidents Cup counted and this is the only one I needed.”

Next season the prerequisite is cut to four regular season events and will make it much easier for Reed. “I’ve always enjoyed playing on both tours and having both memberships.”

After leading Team USA to Ryder Cup redemption at Hazeltine in 2016, Reed’s 2016-17 PGA Tour campaign has been steady without being spectacular. Most crucially it’s been a winless 2017 this far. The highlight was a share of second to Brooks Koepka at the U.S. Open but that was one of only four top-10s in 29 starts as he finished the FedEx Cup in 22nd with $3.05 million.

His start to the new PGA Tour season hasn’t been overly impressive either. Before Mexico he was T-11 at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges in South Korea before finishing a lowly T-50 at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China with a weekend of 82-74.

So how desperate are you to end the season with a win in Dubai?

Patrick Reed’s record when leading after 18 holes:

• Win
• Win
• 2nd
• Win

He leads by one in Dubai. pic.twitter.com/8SyHGkZ4TQ

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 16, 2017

“It’s important but really the biggest thing for me is just improving my golf swing, improve around the greens and improve in all areas. I feel like earlier this year either I hit the ball well that day and didn’t make any putts or I hit it great the following day and missed putts. Been inconsistent on what shows up and what doesn’t.”

Pretty much like we saw on the range and the course Thursday, even if he did “feel like I left two or three out there that I left short right in the heart [of the cup].”  Goodness only knows what Captain America could do if everything clicks. A good night’s sleep sounds like a good place to start. 

Patrick Reed’s lowest opening round of the year ?

Leader by one. #DPWTC pic.twitter.com/hdFJJwaI3J

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 16, 2017

The post Reed proves he’s a “gamer, not a range guy” with opening 65 on Earth appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.