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Reed wins again... but not without controversy

limpalong

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Well, my buddy Patrick won another one. Controversy over a 'lift clean and place' on Saturday. Called the rules official over. Talked to the head rules official after the round. Those folks said he didn't do anything that should result in a penalty or DQ. Still, the commentators and arm chair rules officials found it necessary to shroud his round in controversy.
Rather than let it get to him, he comes out today and wins going away. Cards a 68 on a really tough course. I know many don't like his attitude. Still, I must give the kid credit for having balls of steel. Most would be so frazzled over the perceived rules issues that would not be able to make a decent shot the next day.
 

BigJim13

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Well, my buddy Patrick won another one. Controversy over a 'lift clean and place' on Saturday. Called the rules official over. Talked to the head rules official after the round. Those folks said he didn't do anything that should result in a penalty or DQ. Still, the commentators and arm chair rules officials found it necessary to shroud his round in controversy.
Rather than let it get to him, he comes out today and wins going away. Cards a 68 on a really tough course. I know many don't like his attitude. Still, I must give the kid credit for having balls of steel. Most would be so frazzled over the perceived rules issues that would not be able to make a decent shot the next day.

The guy can certainly block out noise, no question there.


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ualtim

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Patrick Reed has no one to blame but himself for the controversy that surrounds him. He has been caught cheating on more than one occasion and his denials of cheating in that bunker incident even when there was video proof made him look worse than an accidental rule breaker. He now has a rep as a cheater and someone that is not above improving his lie. That is going to stick with him the rest of his career and any incident that is borderline is going to get hyper analyzed.

Watching both his and Rory’s incidents on video, there are subtle differences in how each handled the situation which can influence how folks react to each event differently. No one other than each individual player will know for sure if they were being truthful or not, but with Patrick’s reputation, folks are going to be watching a bit closer and make assumptions that he is trying to skirt the rules as he has history of doing so.

Fair or not, he made his bed and now has to lie in it.
 
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TEA Time

Grumpy Gilmore
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To pick the ball up before bringing a rules official over was amazingly amateurish. WTF was he thinking?
 

ualtim

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To pick the ball up before bringing a rules official over was amazingly amateurish. WTF was he thinking?
While it is within the rules to do so, the amount of time he spent with his hand in the grass can lead to assumptions that he either created a plug line by pushing the ball into the ground or he found a plugged lie spot and marked it with the tee. Not saying that he did, but by removing the ball and then calling the official we have no idea if the plugged line hole was associated with his golf shot. As the video is inconclusive, the assumption is he is telling the truth. With Reed’s history, not everyone is willing to accept him on his word, especially when his new lie was better than any lie he would have had at his ball’s original location.

Even if he is 100% correct in the actions he took, calling in the official after he lifted the ball does look shady when you consider his history and reputation.
 

TEA Time

Grumpy Gilmore
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Even if he is 100% correct in the actions he took, calling in the official after he lifted the ball does look shady when you consider his history and reputation.
Bingo. He like, pulled the ball up and threw it 6 feet away? Just mind bogglingly dumb or shady af. I'm going with maybe a bit of both.
 

BigJim13

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While it is within the rules to do so, the amount of time he spent with his hand in the grass can lead to assumptions that he either created a plug line by pushing the ball into the ground or he found a plugged lie spot and marked it with the tee. Not saying that he did, but by removing the ball and then calling the official we have no idea if the plugged line hole was associated with his golf shot. As the video is inconclusive, the assumption is he is telling the truth. With Reed’s history, not everyone is willing to accept him on his word, especially when his new lie was better than any lie he would have had at his ball’s original location.

Even if he is 100% correct in the actions he took, calling in the official after he lifted the ball does look shady when you consider his history and reputation.

I guess I don’t understand the drop rules. Why is it a player can take a drop and get such a dramatically better lie? I can see if it’s a tramples down area, but we’ve seen this countless times and it falls in the “favorable drop” realm. Shouldn’t the drop at least be a similar lie? And I’m not making that comment specifically to Reed’s situation, any player really. Idk I guess it’s one of the quirks of the rules but still doesn’t make sense to me.


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limpalong

limpalong

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I guess I don’t understand the drop rules. Why is it a player can take a drop and get such a dramatically better lie? I can see if it’s a tramples down area, but we’ve seen this countless times and it falls in the “favorable drop” realm. Shouldn’t the drop at least be a similar lie? And I’m not making that comment specifically to Reed’s situation, any player really. Idk I guess it’s one of the quirks of the rules but still doesn’t make sense to me.


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^^^ This. I guess it's okay to use the Rules of Golf to your advantage. Still, if you hit it in the gunch... play it out of the gunch. There should be no "get out of jail free" card in golf... especially for the pros. This is part of the "bomb & gouge" issue of today. They hit it 400 yards. If it happens to bounce out of the perfectly manicured fairway into a place where they can argue a drop is within the rules... the ball comes back to "rough" similar to the fairways we amateurs play from.

Rant off....
 
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limpalong

limpalong

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My OP was not to forgive Reed for all the questionable incidents he has been involved in. Those incidents will follow him his entire career. Look at Vijay Singh. An incident in his early career followed him forever. May always referred to him as a cheater. Reed does some stupid things. Are they intentional? I'm not in his head.
For me, he has an attribute so many of we amateurs wish for. For that fact, many pros can't do what he does. He can have half the world question his motives and actions, get up the next morning and win a tourney. How many of us hit a couple bad shots and the mental side takes the game totally away. I don't throw clubs. I don't scream out four-letter words. But, I can have trouble when a certain part of the game goes south. If I miss a couple short putts... I will miss more that day because I lose confidence that I can make any. Reed seems to be able to blank our controversy and even play better, seemingly motivated by that controversy.
 

ualtim

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The controversy grows. Rory received an email from the tour stating that a volunteer had admitted to stepping on Rory’s ball while searching for it the rough. Rory’s ball was indeed plugged after that.

Reed has no such excuse.
 

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