Once again, Captain Controversy, aka Patrick Reed, took a big chug from the Cauldron Of Controversy at The Farmers Insurance Open.
Once again, Captain Controversy turned a deaf ear to the uproar around his Saturday rules manipulation and took a stress-free stroll on his way to victory and a ninth PGA Tour victory Sunday afternoon at super-tough Torrey Pines.
Reed looked totally oblivious to yet another storm swirling about him as he calmly went about his business and ended up thrashing all his would-be challengers on the course that will host the U.S. Open in June.
“There’s more in question than who’s going to win the tournament,” was how CBS golf anchor Jim Nantz began the final round telecast. As he referred to Reed’s brush and vindication of any potential rules violations on Saturday, Nantz admitted, “It’s been discussed all over the world of golf.”
The discussion carried into Sunday but Reed was totally disinterested, declaring that he’d been cleared by PGA Tour rules officials of any wrong-doing. Reed showed off his world-class skills all day then holed out a final birdie putt for a sensational closing 68 and a whopping five shot victory, the largest winning margin of his career.
The biggest names chasing him couldn’t muster a charge to save their lives. Jon Rahm shot 72, Rory McIlroy 73 and Adam Scott 73. The players who were paired with Reed were even worse. Carlos Ortiz and Sam Burns looked like a couple of helpless slappers. Ortiz shot 78, Burns 75. Reed totally ignored their woes and his own remarkable short game carried him to victory as he mustered nine one-putt greens and never found himself in any trouble to speak of. His winning total was 14-under par.
Reed started his run to the title when he holed a 45-foot eagle putt at the par five sixth. It was the start of a charge that saw him play the last four holes of the front nine in three-under par. That got him to 13 under and a run of eight straight pars coming home kept him firmly ahead of all the mistake-prone players around him. He holed a nice eight-footer at 18 for a closing birdie to put an exclamation mark on his win.
“Biggest thing is (being) mentally strong the whole round,” said Reed, who was unfazed by the social media storm that grew out of his controversial behavior on Saturday. “You know you have to go out and shoot a low round. Mentally, I hung in there and stayed the course. With that being said, I felt great all day.”
Reed, who has been working on improving his swing with David Leadbetter, said he’s still a work in progress. “The swing’s not 100 percent yet,” Reed pointed out.
What was 100 percent was his marvelous short game, witness by his scrambling all week and his ability to make pars when it looked like he might be in trouble more than a few times.
Reed opened his week with a 64 on the North Course last Thursday and this was the first time since 1987 that a first-round leader went on to win the tournament.
But this one will be remembered for the rest of the season because Captain Controversy rode again.
Witness to how Sir Nick Faldo summed it up:
“The cloud,” said Faldo, “is casting a dark shadow over this victory.”
 Takes The Winner's Stroll At Farmers){kind=link}
32 Comments
Brus282
The haters are going to hate, he smoked them and didn’t look back and that gets under all of their skins including the snotty telecasters and anyone else who has a mic/outlet and earns their bread in the golf business. Congrats Capt. America, a great win on a tough track in tough conditions!
Tom Edrington
Where Reed failed the field was not asking one of his playing partners to take a look at his ball to confirm; He then asked for a rules official AFTER HE HAD BALL IN HAND……it is Reed who continues to cast the cloud of controversy with his actions; He was flat-out caught in the Bahamas by the cameras and penalized so he is a documented cheater…..many suspect that when he got to the ball, he pressed it into the ground to create the look of an imbedded ball; As Faldo indicated, the law of physics won’t allow a ball to imbed from a two-foot drop…..it’s not “haters” as you refer to them but a lot of decorated players like Xander Schauffele and others who know Reed cannot be trusted on his own. The University of Georgia DOES NOT kick out good players for no reason and the Bulldogs gave him the boot….his history dates back before he even earned his Tour card. We will from now on, refer to him as Captain Controversy, thank you.
jsamdawg
I am not a Reed fan but if he is to be raked over the coals for what was within the rules as stated by PGA officials then you have to do the same to Rory. His ball also bounced, he did not call anyone over to inspect, he just announced it was embedded and picked it up and dropped it. Actually Reed did more to clarify his position than Rory. I also understand Reed definitely has a lot of baggage but what CBS did is inexcusable!! They made it the story of the tournament which wasn’t right when it was determined that both Reed and Rory were within the PGA rules
Tom Edrington
They are not “PGA rules” they are rules of golf as written by the USGA and R&A; Reed came under fire for what he didn’t do, have a fellow competitor have a look at the lie before he picked up the ball; Could he have pushed the ball down and made an indentation when he was fiddling with the lie at first? That’s the question because he showed the “indentation” to the official who basically had no choice but to concur; No one else was allowed to see the original lie and that’s where this gets controversial given Reed’s reputation……Rory dropped back into the original spot and his reputation is spotless, unlike Reed’s…..you don’t need a rules official if you deem the ball embedded…..even Reed agreed that if his ball did indeed take the short hop it did then there’s no way it could embed itself….and that speaks volumes…
jsamdawg
Agree that they are the Rules of Golf. So if Reed had done exactly the same thing that Rory did, look at the ball, not call anyone over to inspect, declare it embedded, picked it up and dropped it, he would have done the right thing and there would be no discussion. Right?
Tom Edrington
What Reed did that Rory didn’t do is pull the ball out after spending a lot of time doing something down there in the grass…he has ball in hand then suddenly declares: “I need a rules official…” that’s where this went awry, if he felt he needed one, he should not have pulled the ball out and spend five minutes standing there with it in his hand…..Rory knew the rule, extracted then dropped….Reed didn’t do that…..plus, it’s also a matter of reputation, Reed has had numerous “situations” and was actually penalized for moving sand from behind his ball in a bunker…..Rory’s never had the slightest issue — ever….the players know and that’s where the majority of the whispers are coming from, not from the media…..several major champions, who played and competed didn’t like the way Reed handled it including Sir Nick, Open champion Ian Baker-Finch and multiple major champ Dottie Pepper….
abigbluedevilfan
Perfectly stated………nails meet hammer.
Tom Edrington
Scrutiny will only increase on him, he’ll try it again, no doubt; He’ll eventually get nailed…he can’t help himself…
Scudder Graybeal
I didn’t see the telecast but the tour official said he did the right thing. Granted he could have asked a competitor to look at the ball but was not required to. Maybe a lot of fuss over nothing.
Tom Edrington
It’s a lot of fuss over something; Part of your duties as a player is also to “protect the field” and the field needs protecting from Reed’s tactics; He was playing with two “lesser” players — Will Gordon and Robby Shelton — neither would bother to walk over; Players do not want to confront other players these days; What Reed should have done is not remove the ball from its lie and hold it in his hand, then ask for a ruling, if he thought he needed a ruling, he should have done so before he picked the ball up…..he could have easily pressed it into the ground when he was first messing with it and no one would no better, other than Reed….is he capable of such an action, a lot of players on tour feel he is, thus Xander Schauffele revealing that “a lot of guys are pissed off…” The official had no choice after the fact than to agree with Reed….as Nick Faldo said, it’s impossible by the laws of physics for a ball to imbed after a soft, two-foot fall on a second bounce….
abigbluedevilfan
Give um hell in the Ryder Cup, ‘Captain America’.
Phuck the holier than thou telecasters and writers who whine in their mics and scrawl their drivel on bird cage liners.
I’ve been on the USGA rules staff since the 40 ft. rule was in effect and my judgement is that your actions were totally within the rules.
Perhaps you could spend a bit of your winnings and buy a case of Butt salve to be distributed to the jealous haters in the media who think that the viewers watch telecasts to hear them blubber and spew their hate..
Tom Edrington
As a “USGA Rules Staffer” have you ever had someone standing there with the ball in their hand then call for a ruling? Do you agree he could have easily pushed the ball down when he was fiddling with it away from any fellow competitors looking on, created the ground impression, pick the ball up then showed the impression in the surface to the rules official once he did arrive on the scene? YOU ALWAYS as a fellow competitor to take a look if there is any doubt and the law of physics doesn’t allow for a ball to imbed in tall grass on a soft landing from two feet…..no wonder Xander Schauffle says a lot of players are “pissed off” and they should be…..Reed is habitual, can’t help himself and will eventually get caught the way he did in the Bahamas two years ago….plus, cheated in college…the University of Georgia doesn’t get rid of good players for no reason and he got the boot from Georgia….guy has a long questionable history and it still surfaces…
abigbluedevilfan
Yes, several times, in several differing occasions over a 50 year period.
I don’t care to hear what he has done in the past as it is immaterial as it pertains to this situation.
Since you have the platform to spread your hate, go for it as it seems to placate your need to stir the pot to sell your hateful drivel.
Tom Edrington
Shame on you BlueDevilFan, you are putting words in there that I have not used….we do not “HATE” Reed or anyone else, we have relayed what major champions, current tour players and his peers are saying about him….we have called him Captain Controversy, if you disagree with that, you need to get your head out of the sand!
Tom Edrington
A BIGBDfan: Past history DOES count — once you’ve been caught cheating, you’re a cheater, can’t put the Genie back in the bottle and he got caught red-handed in the Bahamas and hit with a two-shot penalty, camera proved it and he still denied it…..pathological sounding…
abigbluedevilfan
What does that have to do with this situation?
Tell me, I’ll wait?
What would you, in your infinite wisdom have done?
What is the PGA doing?
You obviously are having a difficult time understanding that there was NOTHING done wrong within the rules. There was nothing that could have been done that would have changed the outcome of the tournament. Plain and simple he kicked A$$ and you haters can’t do
a thing about it.
Try in your NaNaNa way to discredit Reed and the win. I’m sure he doesn’t give a crapola what a desk bound pencil pusher thinks of him.
Give um hell in the Ryder cup ‘Captain America’ MAGGA, and send the redcoats packing.
Tom Edrington
First, I will tell you, Sir Knowsitall, I covered golf for the Tampa Tribune for 10 years, played high level amateur golf, and caddied on the Tour, and it’s not “the PGA” it’s the PGA Tour……I am in no way discrediting Reed, you are reading your own opinion into my feature…..Reed needed for one of his playing partner to verify that his lie was plugged before he pulled the ball out and held onto it…..we will be adding in a follow-up what his PEERS think and many of them are not happy with his shenanigans….you DO NOT take the ball out of its lie and stand there with it in your hand and say “I need a ruling” The official had no choice but to concur as some belief Reed made an indentation while he was “examining” his lie…..I was Hal Sutton’s caddie at the 1980 U.S. Open, Hal hit a tee shot into a hazard and wasn’t sure of what to do…..we were playing with Jack (Nicklaus) and Hale (Irwin) so I went over and got Jack to come over….Jack knew the rules better than anyone, showed Hal where the ball went into the hazard….showed him where to mark, take two club lengths (back then), mark the spot and drop, and then Jack said: “Hal, you’re in play”…..that’s what I did back then, Sirknowsitall, and it is proper Tour protocol to have a playing partner check the lie if you believe you are entitled to a drop….SIMPLE AS THAT…Reed was in the clear with the official but he is not in the clear with his fellow players and they are the ones who count most…forget what I’m telling you as you can’t comprehend this, but his peers are no “Pencil pushers”…and besides, no one uses pencil anymore except on a golf scorecard….
Tom Edrington
Actually, it was the 1981 US Open, I covered the 1980 US Open and won first place for news coverage from the Golf Writers Association of America.
golf1234
Congrats to Reed for smoking the field on a tough course. However, did he not hand the ball to his caddie who cleaned it which violates rule 16-B of that scenario, or did I miss something.
Tom Edrington
No, Reed held it in his hand until official got there, what he did that he shouldn’t have done is take the ball from the lie then stand there with it in his hand and declare: “I need a rules official”……either take your drop like Rory did or if he felt he needed a ruling, should not have taken the ball from it’s original spot…..
baxter cepeda
Ok Having taken the time to not only watch all 4 rounds of Paul Casey school the Euro tour in Dubai, and having watched all the coverage from liberal stalwarts cbs and nbc/Golf channels coverage from The Farmers, from Nantz and Faldo to Whiteley, and finally the comments on dogleg news; which is fascinating so many conservative leaning posters are blowing up the DLN defending Reed.
But that’s not here or there.
I am on record saying it is difficult to defend Reed after sand-o-gate in the Bahamas a few years ago. That was clearly more than just whispers from the past, but I am going to defend Reed.
My take is absolute disappointment with all parties involved; except Reed. Reed owes an apology to absolutely nobody; as mcgregor might say.
But Jim, whom I deeply admire, and his own band of henchmen are another story as they were sadly caught in mob mentality, group think nonsense.
Before Nantz started the whole controversy he had a look in his eyes that scared me. The eyes immediately said what would happen, a constant, evolving attack on the leader.
Meanwhile the rules officials not only explained Reed was overall right in his actions, they also have to correct the tv analysts on basic rules, as when Nobilo had to be told he was wrong about his interpretation of when the ball moves after lifting the Marker on the green. Super easy rule.
These old tour players had different rules and a different standard. They are fat cats these days.
Pre-brat pack (Jordan Ricky JT and co) golfers still somewhat policed each other. Policing each other was a dying practice already thanks to sports shrinks teaching players to stay in a bubble and pay attention to nothing but themselves.
On that note Rory, who also did everything right, also had no one look at his lie, instead begging the other rory (sabbattini) for drop advice as he walked by quickly.
Reed showed good understanding of the rules but he clearly made a mistake in not keeping the ball in two fingers and in diddling around that bushy hole like…never mind.
Another hugely important note is that Rory’s ball also bounced forward but no one seems to want to confirm it to the world. If you watch closely when Nantz shows the footage during the beginning of Sunday cbs coverage, the close up slower version shows the ball lands, then leaves a small bit of dark mud (where the ball landed) as the ball comes up and the ball then lands forward 1-3 feet in front of the original landing spot. Slowed down further on the dvr makes this even more evident. My 2 daughters confirmed it then my wife. I tried to ask my 2 year old but he seemed to think this was not worth his time. Bottom line Rory’s ball did not return to the original spot either.
So how can this phenomenon happen to arguably the most respected and least respected golfers at the same time?
Some science show should really look into this but I can think of many reasonable explanations myself.
First having walked around that place, it is already a soft course (unless the usga is bringing it to its knees and the brink of death by dehydration), it’s easy to make all sorts of holes on that turf even with good weather.
After some bad weather, the final groups in a pga tour event at Torrey are playing into hundreds, if not thousands of depressions from landing balls and other things (even Sans fans). This is why the rule clarifies it has to stay in its own pitch Mark to be embedded. But if players don’t see the ball land that’s impossible to know for sure.
It is extremely reasonable to expect the ball was embedded for Reed.
This issue brings up many issues with the rules themselves and lazy procedures procedures on the pga tour that Reed is somehow paying the price for.
Reed should have held the ball in two fingers and diddled in the bushy hole a lot less. But it would be easier to create an embedded appearance with the ball itself stead of the fingers.
imo reed was trying to do things the right way and while it’s true his actions were different, it is ridiculous to think with the camera crew right there he would try something so stupid for almost no gain.
Keep in mind Reed not only had the best short game in the tournament aside from maybe a 50 year old, people like Brooks highlight how impressed he (and Tiger) have been with Reeds growing short game legends.
After the drop Reed slapped it to 15 feet and made the putt. It is very reasonable to believe patrick could have used a slightly different technique with the original lie to get a similar result.
But He used the rules; as most of his contemporaries would. He knocked it And made a great putt. He struggled the rest of that 9 oblivious to any drama.
But the most impressive part is that with all the nonsense drama obviously trying to distract him Sunday, that not only did not happen; he proved that while many may not think Reed classiest guy; he clearly was the class of the field …by 5.
Tom Edrington
Baxter: My only problem with the situation was Reed NOT letting a playing partner take a look at it before he lifted it, would have protected him and the field…..we’re going to follow up on this as to what his PEERS are saying and thinking and they are the ones who really count the most……there’s the court of public opinion and the court of peer/fellow player opinion and the rumblings are that the players are not happy with Reed….we’ll expound on that a bit in our next series of posts….I appreciate you essay here…
abigbluedevilfan
Congrats, Captain America for not only on winning the tournament in a walkover and also for making the ‘know it all’ media hacks squeal like little piglets.
Good luck in the Ryder Cup.
Please, at some time during the competition please have a tiny guilty look on your face so we can have a good laugh seeing the media hacks melting down again.
Tom Edrington
You’re awfully full of yourself in singing the praises of “Captain Controversy” who had a whopping 1-2-0 record in the last Ryder Cup. No media hacks squealing but his peers are buzzing; Seems I recall it was Captain Controversy who was “squealing” when Jordy didn’t want to partner with him in the last Ryder Cup and that had to draw straws…..to see who would get stuck with him….
baxter cepeda
I understand your problem with that. No one looked at Rory’s ball before he lifted it either. It’s become common for players not to look at each other’s balls. It’s irresponsible but it’s what they all do…or don’t do.
Tom Edrington
See my latest on Reed and reaction by players, also, the change to the rule has basically opened the door for Reed to do stuff like this and he knows it…
baxter cepeda
I will read it.
But I saw all the reactions so far. The players are being led by the media here; make no mistake.
Xander said it best, he would wait, because there is so much scrutiny with these things because as Tony noted so many cameras on every shot.
A few years ago it was pathetic how much players called officials for the most basic things just to avoid the occasional issue.
But players seem to have moved back to not only having more confidence in themselves to do rulings, they have been careless policing each other with many rules situation, especially the embedded rule. No one wants to walk into the woods to check for an embedded ball for another man.
My guess is Xander is the one whom told GC players should probably police more; and Tony is a classic example of someone whom won’t confront anyone.
There really is no change to the embedded rule, except that one club measurement now happens from the hole.
With so much scrutiny especially on Reed he messed putting the ball down, but he did it as his way to show he is not touching it too much, something most guys including himself do holding the ball with two fingers usually; but of course they accused him of “palming” before putting the ball down, which I did not see.
He and the official could not see the hole because there was so much long grass in that area, so they had to feel around a bit.
Sure reeds ball was in a high point of the course but all that grass around the ball shows that was likely a water collection area, especially since the grass close bye was very short (and steep).
Rory’s ball was in a collection area also but the grass was shorter, making it easy to see the ball.
Again, rory did exactly the same thing as Patrick except rory never called a rules Offcial. Most everyone did the same, as it happened many times all week.
Patrick was not trying to do anything but follow a routine procedure of dropping from an embedded lie on a sopping wet day.
It’s much ado about nothing.
Social media brings a lot of irresponsible ideas, which is to be expected, but it’s when actual media acts like social media, that even in sports, it gets a little scary imo.
Tom Edrington
Players led by media?? Please Baxter, I expect better from you than that!
baxter cepeda
Yes led by the media.
Don’t get me wrong the players like the media have their issues with Reed, which has everything to do with all this.
Everyone seems to be on the same page about Reed; and yes maybe the players originally led the media.
But in this (non) issue it was the media’s obsession with it which led into what it did.
Imo it is a disappointing start to the new leadership at cbs golf. Aside from a scoreboard taking up more room than necessary and an overused new rules guy, is creating controversy their new thing ?
Would something like this fly at the Masters which requires a perfectly polished presentation of the competition?
Yes, deserved or not, the media Obvio led this specific issue.
Tom Edrington
Keep in mind, there’s virtually no media on site these days…..very few here for the Super Bowl.
baxter cepeda
That’s the funniest part about it.
Jim started all this from the comfort of his own home (or studio near bye his home).
Media in this case means cbs and golf channel talent (with perhaps the new producer).
By Sunday The reporters on and off site all had to ask about it obviously.
It’s clear today golf channel is subtly backtracking. The only thing they have at this point is asking if he deserves it because of his reputation?
My question is what about your reputation?
Keep in mind most of these folks are former players but they are not educated journalists, which even that is no assurance. They seemed like trolls on National tv. Imo.
I hope Reed continues to improve themselves but I really hope cbs and nbc golf their issues; because fox has never looked so good.
Tom Edrington
Once he was gone, I think we appreciate Johnny Miller even more…