MELBOURNE, Australia – Without his regular caddie, who was suspended for Sunday’s singles match by the PGA Tour because of an incident involving a fan, Patrick Reed finally played like Patrick Reed at the Presidents Cup.
Reed won five of his first six holes and cruised to a 4-and-2 victory over C.T. Pan to aid the U.S. team’s Sunday charge at Royal Melbourne.
“[Regular caddie Kessler Karain] was definitely missed but at the same time [swing coach Kevin Kirk] has been out there with us during practice rounds,” said Reed, who went 1-3-0. “He knew kind of what to do and how to handle different situations, just kind of like Kessler. He’s even keeled, so it’s easy to go out there and play golf.”
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Karain was suspended by the Tour after he pushed a fan who had yelled at Reed, “you f***ing suck,” following Saturday’s morning fourball matches.
It was all part of a difficult week for Reed, who was heckled at Royal Melbourne following a rules incident last week at the Hero World Challenge. Asked what he would have done differently, however, Reed deferred to his play.
“[Webb Simpson] and I would have won our first three points,” he said. “We played solid golf the first two days. Unfortunately, they played a little better. The biggest thing we would have done differently is obviously gone out and won our points early to help the team out.”