Patrick Reed gets RIPPED by golf fans on day one at Presidents Cup

Reed and Smith "bump" into each other as Ernie Els' International team race into early lead...

Andy Roberts's picture
Thu, 12 Dec 2019
Patrick Reed gets RIPPED by golf fans on day one at Presidents Cup

Patrick Reed got the response most people anticipated on day one of the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, Australia, with a number of comments aimed at his controversial waste bunker penalty from last week's Hero World Challenge.

Reed was docked two strokes for improving his lie in the sand last Friday, with many people in the world of golf believing the former Masters champion had tried to "cheat" the rules of golf - something which Reed has played down. 

WATCH: PATRICK REED CAUGHT BUSTED "CHEATING" IN THE SAND!

 

 

"Are you going to make your caddie carry 14 clubs and a shovel?" shouted one fan (watch video above) as Reed was announced on the first tee, while another said: "Improve your lie off the tee!"

Other fans shouted out: "Cheater" and "tell me where the bunkers are?!"

Rather fittingly for most of the fans watching on, Reed's opening tee shot ended up in the greenside bunker. 

 

 

As Reed stepped off the first tee, one fan said: "Patrick, there’s cameras out there too!"

Prior to the start of the Presidents Cup, Reed was labelled a "cheat" by International player and home favourite Cameron Smith, and it would appear tensions boiled over between the two of them on day one, despite Smith being left out of the first set of matches.

According to Australian Golf Digest , Reed and Smith quite literally bumped into each other as the American left the fifth green.

With Smith watching on from behind the green, Reed holed a birdie putt to halve the hole and then walked over to Smith en route to the sixth hole but not before "bumping" into him. 

The Australian Golf Digest report claims: "While no words were apparently exchanged between the two players, they were seen deliberately bumping into each other in a clash of shoulders, with one witness referring to it as a love tap that drew a wry grin from Smith."

And it was not just the niggling comments on the way round that caused a headache for Reed, as Tiger Woods' United States side had an opening day to forget in Australia with Ernie Els' International team racing into an early 4-1 lead. 

Reed, playing alongside Webb Simpson for the United States team, suffered defeat at the hands of International duo Hideki Matsuyama and CT Pan (1up).

Woods, a playing captain, got things off to the perfect start in the opening match alongside his partner Justin Thomas with a commanding 4&3 victory over Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann, but that was to be their only point of the day. 

Adam Hadwin and Sungjae Im took down Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay (1up) and that was followed by wins for Adam Scott and Byeong Hun An over Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau (2&1), and also Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen over Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland (4&3).

 

 

DAY 2 FOURSOMES MATCHES

Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott vs Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar
Adam Hadwin and Joaquin Niemann vs Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay
Marc Leishman and Abraham Ancer vs Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed
Byeong Hun An and Hideki Matsuyama vs Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas
Sungjae Im and Cameron Smith vs Gary Woodland and Rickie Fowler