Kostis Says “I’ve Seen Patrick Reed Improve His Lie Four Times”

Peter Kostis went scorched earth during a riveting podcast on NoLayingUp.com. The ex-CBS golf announcer revealed how many TV shots are actually taped (75%!?), why golf telecasts are taking a hit (cutting expenses led to less cameras, improved technology etc.) and if Patrick Reed cheated.

“I’ve seen Patrick Reed improve his lie, up close and personal, four times now,” Kostis said, before explaining one of the situations, which happened in 2016 when Reed won The Barclays at Bethpage Black. “That’s the only time I ever shut [Gary] McCord up. He didn’t know what to say, when I said, ‘Well, the lie that I saw originally wouldn’t have allowed for this shot.’ Cause he put four or five clubs behind the ball, kinda faking whether or not he was going to hit this shot or that shot. By the time he was done, he hit a freaking 3-wood out of there. It was a sand wedge lay-up originally.”

“I was in the tower on 16 at [the Farmers Insurance Open in] San Diego, and [Reed] hit it over the green and did the same thing,” Kostis said. “He put three or four clubs behind it, and it was really a treacherous shot and nobody had gotten it close all day long from over there. By the time he was done, I could read ‘Callaway’ on the golf ball from my tower.”

“I’m not going to assign intent, all I’m going to tell you is what I saw,” he said.

Does he believe cheating is an issue with Tour players?

“No. It’s rare, it’s really, really rare on the PGA Tour; 99.9 percent of the guys play by the rule book,” Kostis said. “It’s been my experience that people who are trying to get away with something think they’re invisible. That nobody’s watching, that they’re so cool doing it that nobody will get it.”

Listen to the entire podcast. It’s refreshing, insightful and full of WHOA moments.