Patrick Reed said he and Xander Schauffele have cleared the air after Reed’s rules controversy at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Though two PGA Tour rules officials said Reed properly handled his drop for an embedded ball during the third round, there was considerable conjecture about whether Reed should have been granted free relief after video replay showed his ball bounced in the rough.
When he spoke to reporters after the final round, Xander Schauffele said he hadn’t yet seen video of Reed’s drop but that “the talk amongst the boys isn’t great, I guess.”
“But he’s protected by the Tour,” Schauffele added, “and that’s all that matters, I guess.”
After Reed won by five shots in San Diego, he flew 17 hours to Saudi Arabia to tee it up in this week’s European Tour event. When he landed, he said he had a text waiting from Schauffele.
Reed kept the contents of their text conversation private but said: “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,” he said later. “We’re all good.”
When asked whether he was concerned about other players, including a potential U.S. team member, being upset with him, Reed said: “No, not at all.”
Also teeing it up in Saudi Arabia, Bryson DeChambeau said he talked to Reed about the incident.
“He said that when he picked it up, there was stuff under it; there was mud,” DeChambeau said. “The rules official made the decision, and you go with what the rules official says in any situation. That’s what you have to do. So he made that call, and I would defer to the rules official.”
Coming off his ninth PGA Tour, Reed is now playing his fourth tournament in five weeks.
“Really, I’ve moved on from last week,” he said, “and I’m trying to focus on this week and having a chance late Sunday to hopefully win another one.”