Farmers Insurance Open final leaderboard here
In the end Patrick Reed coasted to his 9th win amid a hail of condemnation from everybody, except Reed himself and the PGA Tour.
His -4 68 was good enough for a 5 shot win at the Farmers Insurance Open, over the pack including Victor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, and Ryan Palmer.
He credited his resilience, and the new swing he and the David Leadbetter team have been working on for his success.
"You look at all the great players throughout the years and they are all very resilient. No matter what's going on around them, off the course or on, they really find a way to get the job done, to really just drive in and keep on improving each shot each day"
So I won't go over the ruling from Saturday again. I and everyone else has had their say. My question who is going to tell Patrick.
The truth is he is the Masters champion, he almost won the Race To Dubai last year, in fact was in the drivers seat right until the end. He is welcomed with open arms by the European Tour and their sponsors, he gets paid appearance fees on top of prize money.
He is ranked 11th in the world, is a star on the US Ryder Cup team, and in a way is the Ilie Nastase of the golf world, the gifted star who turned heel when things went against him, the bad boy vs the good guy that drove up attendances and ratings.
The problem is, Patrick crosses the unwritten law that is the tenant of the game of golf, the ultimate sin, he cheats to gain an advantage for himself as we all can see, then he denies it. In his DNA, at crucial times he crosses the line, he is the guy in your group who has the foot wedge.
However the PGA Tour and the European Tour endorse his behavior and reward him handsomely.
Players on both tours mutter amongst themselves, never point the finger when being peppered with questions from the media, and as far as any of us know, have got the guts to go up to Patrick, and say " I'm disgusted with you, I don't want to play with you because you cheat"
Baseball player's who scuff or grease the ball or cork their bats are screamed at by their opponents, card players who deal from the bottom get shot in the movies, hockey players who put too much curve on their sticks are penalized in front of everybody right there on the ice..
Golf, the gentleman's game relies on players calling penalties on themselves, it prides itself on a concept that doesn't exist in any other sport.
None of the current membership should be put in a position to publicly call out one of their own. Nor should officials, referees working in play during a round without the use of instant replay, like referees in other sports.
Here's what we want to happen, here's what should happen.
Keith Pelley, or Jay Monahan in conjunction with the Players rules committee have to make the tough call, announce to the world what everybody thinks, that on Saturday afternoon at the Farmers Insurance, Patrick Reed quickly picked up his golf ball without showing it to his fellow players or volunteers, or even the camera man right behind him thus removing the evidence, fiddled around in the ground possibly to increase the indentation, before the official he called over to back up his claim could arrive and make any other decision, and as such appeared to take advantage of the trust afforded him as a professional golfer to improve his lie.
He may not have broken the new rules, but he certainly broke the spirit of them and the game itself.
As such his membership should be suspended.
But it won't ever happen without absolute proof positive, will it.
Bryan Angus
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