Patrick Reed’s bunker antics at the Hero World Challenge have stayed with him despite a flight that took him halfway around the world.
Reed became the center of attention for all the wrong reasons over the weekend in the Bahamas, docked two shots for improving his lie after video evidence showed him moving sand away from behind his ball on two different practice swings. Reed defended himself at the time, saying a different camera angle would have exonerated his actions, and he doubled down Tuesday when speaking to reporters at the Presidents Cup.
“If you do something unintentionally that’s breaking the rules, it’s not considered cheating,” Reed said. “I wasn’t intentionally trying to improve a lie or anything like that, because if I was, it would have been a really good lie and I would have hit it really close.”
But those defenses have not kept opponents like Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman from voicing their displeasure over his actions, and Tuesday even one of his teammates got in the mix when Justin Thomas found an unpleasant lie in one of the greenside bunkers during a practice round at Royal Melbourne.
After walking into the bunker, Thomas called over to Reed, “P-Reed, is this right?” as he took a pair of practice backswings that each dislodged some sand from behind the ball:
— Adele Huggard (@ahgolf01) December 10, 2019