"Great merger, huh?!" Patrick Reed with explosive (!) comments at The Open

Patrick Reed has revealed he was fined by the DP World Tour hours after the PGA Tour announced an agreement with Saudi Arabia's PIF.

Ben Smith

20 Jul 2023

"Great merger, huh?!" Patrick Reed with explosive (!) comments at The Open

Patrick Reed has revealed he was fined by the European DP World Tour the morning after the PGA Tour announced an agreement with LIV Golf's backers.

"Great merger, huh?" Reed said to a pool of reporters after his first round at the 2023 Open Championship.

It was a frustrating round at Royal Liverpool, he said, but probably not nearly as frustrating as reading the email that hit his inbox from DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley in the hours after the gobsmacking agreement was announced on 6 June.

Open Championship 2023 leaderboard

"You hear one day it's a merger, the next day you hear it's not a merger, the next day you hear it's a collaboration, then you hear everyone is working in parallel, then you hear this ends the lawsuits," Reed said after his opening 70.

He continued:

"Then you also hear people saying you can play everywhere. Let's be honest, right, whenever I got -- I heard about this merger, the next morning I get an email from Keith Waters and Keith Pelley suspending me through Scottish [Open] and fining me some more.

"Great merger, right? Still getting suspended and fined.

"That's the thing is it's hard to feel happy or upset about any of it because we don't know what it is.

"Until we actually know exactly what the merger, collaboration, whatever it is, means, there's not really anything -- you can't really be upset or happy about it because there is no information.

"Now, if anyone has that information I'd love to let you know so I can let you know if I'm happy or upset about it."

"People say you can't make your cake and eat it"

Reed was asked if he would like to continue playing on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour in the future.

The 32-year-old is an honorary member of the DP World Tour and has always stated he would continue to play there.

And he contends that he would've played the minimum number of PGA Tour events to keep his card.

Reed explained:

"I've always wanted to play and keep my European Tour status. I'm an honorary lifetime member. I take pride in that. PGA Tour, yeah of course I'd love to play. The first year of LIV I would have played the minimum -- I already played the minimum on the PGA Tour.

"I have played every event on LIV and I would have played the minimum on the European Tour.

"I was that one guy when they said no one can play all three. Well, I did it. Shocker.

"But that's the thing. Where I play, who knows. If I play PGA Tour, LIV, or if I played European Tour LIV. The biggest thing is there should be no reason why if we've qualified well we shouldn't be able to.

"People say you can't make your cake and eat it, as well, but how many PGA Tour players go over and play a European Tour for money? They're getting appearance fees. They're not showing up to play for competition. They're getting paid to do that.

"It shouldn't matter as long as you play the minimum and do what you're supposed to, you play, and that's fine. If you play the minimum on the European Tour and you earn enough points to keep your card, you should be able to play.

"If you play the minimum on the PGA Tour and you have enough FedExCup points to keep your card, more power to you.

"That's kind of how I look at it. If you've qualified and you've earned your right to play, you should be able to play."

Reed said he doesn't expect handouts in the form of sponsor exemptions. "None of us do," he said.

"It's a little much"

Reed said he did not watch the US Senate hearing in which two high-ranking PGA Tour execs, Jimmy Dunne and Ron Price, were grilled by lawmakers about the 'agreement to have an agreement' between the parties involved.

The American said it was 'very strange' to see members of the golf world in a Senate hearing.

"To sit there and think that you're going to have a hearing about a sport, about golf, is just like -- it's a little much," he said. "But I get it."

Reed said once we've heard from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan 'we'll be able to know what's going on'.

His job is just to play golf and entertain people, he said.

Patrick Reed chuckles as he says he was fined by the DP World Tour the morning after the PIF/PGA Tour merger was announced.
“Great merger, huh?” pic.twitter.com/ZP3AmDEX0b
— James Colgan (@jamescolgan26) July 20, 2023

With that in mind, his focus is on the Ryder Cup. He told reporters he has spoken to U.S. Captain Zach Johnson.

Reed said the world ranking situation is 'messed up as everyone knows'.

He said: "Playing good golf takes care of everything. Takes care of these events, the majors, takes care of the Ryder Cups and all that. Just going and playing your way on, but playing well.

"Yeah, the guys that are part of LIV of course we're [behind] the 8-ball with that because of course we only have four tournaments that count. All we can do is continue playing solid golf and give yourself chances because winning trophies takes care of that."

Open Championship 2023 info:

More GolfMagic articles from the 2023 Open Championship