Patrick Reed - The Man, the Child Abuse (?), Redemption (??)

[mchepp]

23 hours ago, iacas said:

 

Not to mention the excellent play at Ryder Cups which many players say is a high pressure situation also.

[imsys0042]

I voted yes.   I was bullied a lot when I was younger and it definitely affects the way I feel and act around other people.   I think it would put his behavior in a different light.   However everyone has their baggage and it can’t be an excuse for bad behavior. 

[Birdieputt]

I voted no.  He is a stone cold killer on the course and that is who you want playing on your side.  

[MiuraMan]

All this talk condemning Patrick as a "cheater" led me to do a little research on the internet and find those incidents, as a professional, of so called cheating. In his 10 year career, I could only find 2 incidents of alleged cheating. The 2018 World Hero Challenge bunker incident and this past Saturday's events. I would hardly label that as an extensive "cheating career".

And yes I have read the stories about what took place in College; but even there and even after 10 years, nobody has actually gone on the record regarding the allegations' It is always anonymous sources. It seems like the golfing world operates under "omerta" - a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders.

Anyway in my quest to learn more about Patrick Reed I came across an interesting article (link below) - the article relates some stories from Patrick's College career. I especially enjoyed the narrative around Augusta State's back to back NCAA victories on Reed's 6-0 match play record.

In 2010 Augusta State beat Oklahoma State in the NCAA finals. The 2011 NCAA was held at Oklahoma State, setting up the perfect environment for the semi-final match between OSU and Augusta. Reed was going out against Uihlein as the final match. Reed had prevailed over Uihlein the previous year. The hating OSU fans lining the fairways was exactly the environment Reed thrives on.  Uihlein was now the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, and had played in the Masters in April—a rare honor for a college student—but the accolades only seemed to stoke the flames of Reed’s competitive fire. Uihlein, from the start, never had a chance.

Reed birdied six of the first 11 holes, and as he walked up the 10th, Uihlein looked at him something like disbelief. “Every time I play you, it’s like I run into a buzzsaw,” he said. “You just cut me down.” Reed won the match by the gaudy score of 8&7—he had faced the top amateur in the world, and the player the Wall Street Journal had called “the next great champion” just two months earlier, and humiliated him on his home course.

In the 2011 finals Augusta State now faces the Georgia bulldogs. 

Before the last round of his college career, in the national championship against Harris English, a group of Reed’s Augusta State teammates approached English—one of the most well-liked, easygoing players in the sport—with an emphatic message:

“We want to win the national title, but we hope you kick the shit out of Patrick Reed.”

For sure Reed was a cocky arrogant teenager, who never bonded with his teammates in his short college career, but in any other sport his bravado probably would have been revered.

It is a long article, but a good read nonetheless.

The Villain: Patrick Reed | Tobacco Road Blues

---

(Hello—a quick note up top to explain the presence of this story on Tobacco Road Blues, of all places. I’ve been working on a golf book for the past year and a half—Slaying the Tiger: A Year …

 

 

[woodzie264]

I am not saying the reason there is a paucity of evidence/accusations against PR is because of this (insinuating that there are more undisclosed examples), but it is my understanding that the TOUR prohibits players from discussing these sorts of things with the press/public. Perhaps, @iacas can speak more intelligently on this?

[saevel25]

Sounds to me that people just don't like Reed in general and just exaggerate the cheating part to validate that opinion. 

[woodzie264]

7 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Sounds to me that people just don't like Reed in general and just exaggerate the cheating part to validate that opinion. 

I 100% agree, just putting out the fact that the TOUR prohibits(?) publicly accusing other players and that could potentially be a factor in the lack of other reported incidents - just trying to be objective.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, woodzie264 said:

the TOUR prohibits players from discussing these sorts of things with the press/public.

I think the PGA Tour is protective in this way. I think Joel Dahmen get reprimanded for saying the "C" word about the Sung Kang drop and also Cam Smith re: Patrick Reed. But I don't know anything about the official policy.

49 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Sounds to me that people just don't like Reed in general and just exaggerate the cheating part to validate that opinion. 

This certainly seems to be true. Honestly the rules incidents don't bother me since they have been settled by higher rules authority than me. And it's not like there aren't other players who have done silly rules things (I think @boogielicious gave some nice examples in another thread). After hearing the Peter Kostis interview on NLU about multiple instances of Reed improving his lie, I've noticed that other players do this to some degree as well (maybe not the sand thing, but I definitely see players putting a club behind the ball in the rough). One thing that really irked me about Patrick Reed was his tweet about the seats at the Red Sox game - maybe I am being too petty and should cut him some slack.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

I am not saying the reason there is a paucity of evidence/accusations against PR is because of this (insinuating that there are more undisclosed examples), but it is my understanding that the TOUR prohibits players from discussing these sorts of things with the press/public. Perhaps, @iacas can speak more intelligently on this?

They can’t speak ill of another player on the record, but they could certainly make known to reporters whatever they wanted off the record or anonymously.

They don’t like Patrick because he’s cocky. They didn’t like him when he made the “top five player in the world” comment, either. They’ve never really liked him.

[Birdieputt]

2 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

I 100% agree, just putting out the fact that the TOUR prohibits(?) publicly accusing other players and that could potentially be a factor in the lack of other reported incidents - just trying to be objective.

Or there simply isn't any other incidents.  Just trying to be objective.  

[woodzie264]

3 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

I am not saying the reason there is a paucity of evidence/accusations against PR is because of this (insinuating that there are more undisclosed examples), but it is my understanding that the TOUR prohibits players from discussing these sorts of things with the press/public. Perhaps, @iacas can speak more intelligently on this?

 

2 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

I 100% agree, just putting out the fact that the TOUR prohibits(?) publicly accusing other players and that could potentially be a factor in the lack of other reported incidents - just trying to be objective.

@Birdieputt, thus my both of my comments prior to your post:

8 minutes ago, Birdieputt said:

Or there simply isn't any other incidents.  Just trying to be objective.  

 

[mchepp]

Something to note. Shane Ryan the author of the article you linked does not like Patrick Reed. In fact, in my opinion he likes attacking Reed, I think he thinks it makes him popular with the other pros in order to get some points with them. He devotes a decent part of the book attacking him. So we should keep that on background.

That said, I think Reed has enjoyed the "bad guy" persona. It seems to motivate him. Whatever works right.

[MiuraMan]

22 minutes ago, mchepp said:

Something to note. Shane Ryan the author of the article you linked does not like Patrick Reed. In fact, in my opinion he likes attacking Reed, I think he thinks it makes him popular with the other pros in order to get some points with them. He devotes a decent part of the book attacking him. So we should keep that on background.

That said, I think Reed has enjoyed the "bad guy" persona. It seems to motivate him. Whatever works right.

Yes I agree with your assessment of the author. The part of the article I liked was the narrative around the NCAA back to back wins, since I don't really follow college golf much, I am searching YouTube for video of the 2011 NCAA semi and final matches. I did watch a YT video that was a recap of the 2011 final match - it was just interviews. But I did notice Patrick Reed using a long putter ala Langer!

[ShawnSum]

I've always thought the real reasons for all the hate were/are because of his whole family issues stemming from the wife? The guy had his parents escorted off the grounds at the 2014 US Open because his wife wanted it done. This along with all the other rumors is what I imagine fuels most people's hate towards him when he's out there skirting the rules of Golf.

Regardless of what is actually true and what is false the dude is a crazy fierce competitor and all this craziness seems to fuel his competitive drive. Watching everything unfold over the weekend got me thinking about what kind of documentaries (if any) will come out over the next 20-40 years about Reed.

[iacas]

52 minutes ago, ShawnSum said:

The guy had his parents escorted off the grounds at the 2014 US Open because his wife wanted it done.

It's not first-hand, I didn't grow up with Patrick Reed, but I have it on good authority that:

• Patrick Reed's parents aren't great people.
• Patrick was abused as a child. Maybe not always or even mostly physically, but abuse comes in many forms.
• Justine has helped Patrick cut his parents off from his life.
• They show up at tournaments, including the Masters, despite him making known he doesn't want them there.
• They will pitch their side of the story to the media to garner support for their side, while he stays silent. He's trying to put it behind them.
• Justine has seen all of this, and loves Patrick, and tries to help him and defends him and protects him. Or tries to.

So yeah, I've heard that Justine and/or Patrick himself will have his parents removed from the course when it's known he doesn't want them there but they show up anyway.

52 minutes ago, ShawnSum said:

Regardless of what is actually true and what is false the dude is a crazy fierce competitor and all this craziness seems to fuel his competitive drive. Watching everything unfold over the weekend got me thinking about what kind of documentaries (if any) will come out over the next 20-40 years about Reed.

Did you notice how many people in the Tiger documentary, even people he'd excised from his life, are still protective of him, compassionate toward him, say only mostly good things about him? Earl wasn't an awesome parent… Maybe there are more similarities there than people credit.

[MiuraMan]

5

Spiranac says she likes Reed 'talking s***'

[iacas]

@ShawnSum, more on the above, from someone who did know Patrick and still does:

Edit: the thing that really irks me about his parents is that it’s obvious that there are people out there that know the truth, that can corroborate that his parents were abusive, but no actual journalist has ever tried to talk to those people.

There’s been like 15 articles about how Patrick is ruining his parents’ lives by not allowing them to meet their grandchildren but no one has said “Hey, these people had neighbors, other parents of kids who played golf in tournaments with Patrick, other kids that went to high school with him, should we try to find those people? Nah, we’ll just let his dad keep telling this sob story.”

---

Note: everything from here on out is assumption, not to be taken as fact.

But imagine you’re Justine, you start dating Patrick and realize his dad is abusive and his mom & sister, if not actively participating, are at least complicit. So you convince Patrick to cut them off.

This goes fine for a little while and then Patrick starts winning, so journalists want to find out where his parents are. They call his dad who comes up with this story about the evil wife who brainwashed their son into cutting them out of his life. You, Justine, respond “Hey, wait a minute, this guy was an abusive alcoholic, that’s why Patrick cut them off.” (This is in reference to a Facebook post she made years ago) She thinks the media/PGA Tour will at least look into it. They don’t. They continue to allow his dad to talk to reporters, go on the news, and show up at tournaments knowing Patrick doesn’t want any of this.

So when his dad shows up at the US Open you have him kicked out. He then tells this story to a reporter who again posts an article about how evil you are. Wash, rinse, repeat.

This goes on for years. If you’re Justine at this point, you’re not going to trust anything the media or the PGA Tour does. Why would you? They’ve continued to allow Patrick’s abuser to just show up at tournaments and walk around freely. His dad gets kicked out at the Tournament of Champions for making a threatening gesture at you, doesn’t matter. They still let him go to the Ryder Cup in Paris.

I’m not saying Justine is justified in how she acts, quite the opposite, but I at least understand her thought process.

[iacas]

 

From a post I originally made there, this text (not mine):

Edit: the thing that really irks me about his parents is that it’s obvious that there are people out there that know the truth, that can corroborate that his parents were abusive, but no actual journalist has ever tried to talk to those people.

There’s been like 15 articles about how Patrick is ruining his parents’ lives by not allowing them to meet their grandchildren but no one has said “Hey, these people had neighbors, other parents of kids who played golf in tournaments with Patrick, other kids that went to high school with him, should we try to find those people? Nah, we’ll just let his dad keep telling this sob story.”

---

Note: everything from here on out is assumption, not to be taken as fact.

But imagine you’re Justine, you start dating Patrick and realize his dad is abusive and his mom & sister, if not actively participating, are at least complicit. So you convince Patrick to cut them off.

This goes fine for a little while and then Patrick starts winning, so journalists want to find out where his parents are. They call his dad who comes up with this story about the evil wife who brainwashed their son into cutting them out of his life. You, Justine, respond “Hey, wait a minute, this guy was an abusive alcoholic, that’s why Patrick cut them off.” (This is in reference to a Facebook post she made years ago) She thinks the media/PGA Tour will at least look into it. They don’t. They continue to allow his dad to talk to reporters, go on the news, and show up at tournaments knowing Patrick doesn’t want any of this.

So when his dad shows up at the US Open you have him kicked out. He then tells this story to a reporter who again posts an article about how evil you are. Wash, rinse, repeat.

This goes on for years. If you’re Justine at this point, you’re not going to trust anything the media or the PGA Tour does. Why would you? They’ve continued to allow Patrick’s abuser to just show up at tournaments and walk around freely. His dad gets kicked out at the Tournament of Champions for making a threatening gesture at you, doesn’t matter. They still let him go to the Ryder Cup in Paris.

I’m not saying Justine is justified in how she acts, quite the opposite, but I at least understand her thought process.