The Yin And Yang Of Being Patrick Reed
Patrick Reed (aka Captain America) is no shrinking violet. He’s also a lightning rod for controversy whether its the perceived social media meddling from wife/mother-in-law, calling out other teammates or permanently sabotaging any friendships from his days as a Georgia Bulldog or Augusta State Jaguar. He practices alone and rarely socializes with peers off course.
However, he’s also one helluva player, obsessed with practice and a refreshing villain in a sport guilty of being overly polite. Personally, I don’t mind him one bit. Not everyone can be beloved by all and at least Reed doesn’t shrink from the controversy he alone tends to create.
Scott Micheax provides a compelling story on Golfdigest,com on why Patrick’s Yin and Yang persona may provide one of golf’s most compelling characters. Meaning there’s no middle ground on opinions about him. He’s also the reigning Masters champion.
An anonymous U.S. player told the New York Post that Reed “is so full of s—t,” and added “he has no clue how to play team golf. I saw firsthand how bad of a team player he was. Eleven players understood the concept of team golf and only one didn’t. Unfortunately, that one proved to be too costly for the team to overcome.”
He was persona non grata when he was kicked off the team at Georgia in 2009 after one season, and most on the Augusta State roster tolerated him as a necessary evil in helping deliver the school consecutive NCAA championships in 2010 and 2011.
“They all hate him—any guys that were on the team with him [at Georgia] hate him and that’s the same way at Augusta,” said Kevin Kisner, a Georgia alum who predated Reed’s arrival in Athens and lives 20 minutes from Augusta in Aiken, S.C. “I don’t know that they’d piss on him if he was on fire, to tell you the truth.”
“I mean, I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments,” Reed said.
However, there’s this from the player who Patrick had an epic singles battle at the 2016 Ryder Cup…
“I respect him. I have a deep respect for his game, his mental toughness, his drive. I’ve spent enough time around Patrick to know he’s a really good guy and sometimes misunderstood,” Rory McIlroy said recently. “I genuinely like him.”
Josh Gregory, Reed’s coach at Augusta State supports his former player as well.
“He’s said things maybe he wishes he didn’t say, but for the most part he’s very misunderstood,” Gregory said. “He’s a lot more well-liked than people think. He keeps mainly to himself and cares about his family and cares about his golf, and that’s mainly just it. He doesn’t have a lot of other interests. There could be a documentary on how hard this young man works. Yes, he’s very talented, but there’s no secret to why he’s been so successful. That’s his work ethic. Nobody will outwork him or out-prepare him. Of course, he’s very brash and cocky inwardly, but that’s not really who he is on the outside. At times it may come across as that when he says ‘I’m one of the top-five players in the world,’ but that’s what he genuinely believes.”
It’s a good revealing piece on golf’s current bad boy. And again, I find him a fascinating pro and con–and whats wrong with that?
