Patrick Reed has widely been known as one of PGA’s most disliked golfers. He won the Masters in 2018, and golf fans continued to dislike him.
Well, after watching Reed’s conduct at the third round of the Hero World Challenge, it’s easy to see why. He blatantly broke the rules — not just once — but twice (!) and played it off like nothing had happened.
Reed spent much of Friday around the top of the leaderboard, but when the NBC Golf broadcast revisited his bogey on 11, it became clear that Reed committed a rules violation by improving his lie. It wasn’t even close.
As Reed was attempting his practice swings for a shot out of the bunker, sand could be seen getting brushed away by his club. It happened on consecutive practice swings — eliminating the possibility of an accident — and golf fans all took notice. He had to know what he was doing. After all, it happened twice.
Reed didn’t report the violation as it happened, but he’ll almost certainly face discipline when his round comes to an end.
Update: Reed was penalized two strokes for the violation, dropping him to three shots off Henrik Stenson’s lead.
