Patrick Reed Still Has His Peers Buzzing; Sportsbook Refunds Bets

Patrick Reed has a knack for knocking hornet nests out of trees, so to speak.  There was Sand-Gate back in 2019 at Tiger’s Hero World Challenge and that was the genesis of a general distrust for the way Reed can go about his business when his shots end up in less-than-desirable lies.

First, it is important to note that Reed was pronounced to be in the clear by the PGA Tour, but there was a lot more involved than a simple ruling, it was the sequence of events prior to said ruling last Saturday on the 10th hole at Torrey Pines.

There has been much discussion in the world of golf and the court of public opinion.  The only opinion that really matters is what Reed’s peers are saying and believing, those are the ones he has to live with on the course, they are the one who can question his character and his methods, they are the ones most affected.

Xander Schauffele, the world’s fourth-ranked player offered this:

“I would wait for an official. He did everything by the book according to the official and everyone stood by there.  The talk amongst the boys isn’t great, I guess, but he’s protected by the Tour and that’s all that matters, I guess.”

Lanto Griffin, tour winner, had his opinion:

“Golf’s a game of sportsmanship and it’s tough to put us in the spot to call him out because we weren’t there, but at the end of the day I think 99 percent of the golfers out here, if it’s in question one way or the other, they’re going to go the other way, not taking a drop, it didn’t cross, that type of deal.  So, it’s tough to see, it’s sad, kind of pisses us off, but it’s the way it is. Hopefully something changes and comes to a conclusion.”

Now here’s where things get interesting.  The PGA Tour has welcomed sports betting with open arms and the Reed “incident” had a reaction from the sports books.

PointsBet Sportsbook has been dubbed the “top preferred gaming partner” of both NBC and the PGA Tour.  That sports book announced a refund after  Reed’s win for those who bet pre-tournament on an outright winner other than Reed.

So did PointsBet view the result as “tainted?”  While Reed may or may not have gone about things correctly, PointsBet set a tone of basically doing the right thing.  It also highlights an issue golf will face when perceived cheating, questionable rulings, undisclosed injuries or even course setup gaffes could lead the betting public to feel the “product” is unreliable.

Brandel Chamblee did some more work afterward, going through his extensive contact list and speaking to current and former players.

Here’s the feedback Chamblee received:

“I either messaged or talked to 15 to 20 current and past tour players, some of them Hall of Fame members, over the past 24 hours and not a single player is in defense of what Patrick Reed did.” 

Chamblee also made a good point between rules and ethics:

“In the same way that there is a distinction between law and morality, there is a mark distinction, in this case, between what he was legally allowed to do and what he ethically appeared to be doing.  There is an unwritten code which players adhere to around the golf ball. He violated that code in so many ways that even the rules officials themselves were stammering as to how to address it.”

The “ethical” violation in Reeds case came from the fact that he pulled the ball out of the lie, palmed it, poked around the hole  for a period of time then announced “I need a rules official.”  By picking the ball up as quickly as he did,  palming it instead of holding it carefully with two fingers to replicate the original lie should it have not been embedded, that action suggests that Reed had no intention of playing from that lie, even before the ruling.

By the time PGA Tour rules official Brad Fabel arrived, there was nothing much for him to look at but the “lip” of the embed that Reed pointed out.

The PGA Tour is supposed to have a rules official monitoring telecasts and the replay showed the ball did indeed bounce, a signal that Reed’s ball most likely did not embed.

But Reed moved the ball so quickly that it may have been a moot issue but the current rules gave Reed the benefit of the doubt that he acted reasonably.

Here’s part the the new rule book that helps exonerate Reed:

“The player’s reasonable judgement will be accepted even if, after the stroke is made, the determination is shown to be wrong by video evidence or other information.”

You know Reed was as happy a lark when that line was written and put into effect. In most instances now they can just accept a player’s word and move on. No need to hand out too many pesky penalties.

Who knows when Reed’s next “situation” will arise.

Perhaps PointsBet Sportsbook can come up with some sort of proposition bet on it.

Jon Rahm’s The Favorite In Phoenix, Rory Makes First Appearance, J.T.’s In:

Won’t be the greatest show on grass this week with a very, very limited number of fans at the TPC Scottsdale but they will have former Arizona State standout Jon Rahm in town along with some other pretty big names.

Rahm, who contended last week at Torrey Pines but couldn’t come up with anything special on Sunday, is the betting favorite this week.  Rahm currently checks in at No. 2 in the world rankings and he’s not the only star in the field. World’s No. 3 Justin Thomas didn’t bit on a big Middle East appearance fee and skipped the Saudi International in favor of the Waste Management folks.

Xander Schauffele finally broke his Torrey Pines jinx last week and the world’s No. 4 finished in that five-way tie for second behind Patrick Reed.

Rory McIlroy is making his first-ever start in the event and was both good and bad last week, eventually finishing tied for 16th at Torrey Pines.

Will Zalatoris has some momentum, he had a top 10 last week, finishing tied for seventh.

In all, it’s a stronger field that most for this one.  Sadly, the huge throngs that make this such a special stop on Tour won’t be around.