The week in golf: Patrick Reed causes a stir; Brooks Koepka heartbroken

Reed all about it

When America lose a Ryder Cup, there is fallout. Their captain's every decision is second-guessed, not always unreasonably so; questions are asked as to why these talented players don't quite make a team. There was no Gleneagles moment here, Phil Mickelson electing this time to support rather than lynch his captain, but there was still controversy.

Patrick Reed was quoted by the New York Times, saying: "For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice." This came a day after a prickly press conference in which Jordan Spieth acted quickly to answer why the two hadn't renewed their previously successful partnership. Spieth's interjection wasn't coherent, rare for one of the more eloquent and introspective players in the sport. It smacked of an attempt to avoid making headlines.

"No, we weren't (surprised not to play together) - we were totally involved with every decision that was made. This was a... Jim allowed it to be a player-friendly environment, and we were involved and we thought that the teams that came out of our, you know, four-man squad, what do we call it, fire team - what is it, Tiger?

"We thought that we had two teams... too tired to talk, Tiger. We had two potentially fantastic teams, and we went out and... we went out confidently and tried to play our best."

Spieth and partner Justin Thomas did their bit, winning three of their four matches. Reed? He played only with Tiger Woods, the pair losing twice, both times to Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood. When playing alone on Sunday, Reed returned to winning form to extend a wins-only singles sequence which started four years ago in Scotland and took in Rory McIlroy at Hazeltine.

When Team USA picked up on Reed's quotes, given late on Sunday night, they were by most accounts not impressed. The New York Post quoted one as saying: "He is so full of sh*t. Blindsided my ass. He begged to play with Tiger."

Of course, when Reed is involved in a squabble - and we are talking about a player who, whether his fault or not, tends to engage in his fair share - invariably, so too are his wife and her family. Justine Reed replied to a tweet from Golf Channel's Jay Coffin which criticised her husband's performance with: "Wow. And you’re the Editor of @GolfChannel Doesn’t surprise me. He didn’t hit many fairways today, but many didn’t. He made sure he scrambled. First day, he made 5 birdies, and hit a ton of fairways, and sat the afternoon. I guess this is where the hate comes from."

She didn't stop there. "You must be living in La la land!" was the reply to one polite tweeter who highlighted the unfortunate truth: that Reed did play poorly. "They (GC) are the ones that are unspeakably awful. Not even trying to hide their bias, their prejudice and their hatred. Journalistically disqualified."

"Exactly," she continued, this time to someone who offered an olive branch of support. "And Tiger and Justin play well together as well and I think Ricky found a great partner in Justin in the last Presidents Cup '17, therefore if Tiger needed to rest or vice verse (sic)... they could easily have been interchangeable."

So there you have it, Furyk's biggest mistake: not consulting partners of players for their tactical views. Major-winning vice captains, a team of data analysts, yes; but he did not ask Patrick Reed's wife who Patrick Reed ought to play with. And he didn't ask Reed's mother-in-law, either, who gave her views via the medium of Facebook comments, which have long since overtaken Daily Mail comments when it comes to injecting despair into my veins.

"It's not about winning any more, else we would have won that cup hands down," is perhaps my favourite line here, chiefly because it is utterly bizarre. "Who wants a captain that has the worst Ryder Cup stats in the history of Ryder Cup?" is also a humdinger. "Reed's candour was fabulous... grow up Spieth!" Stop it.

So much to digest, but here's the key point: American golf is very strong and it is far from certain that Reed, who has been quiet since he became Masters champion in the spring, qualifies for the 2020 side. It's clear that he is not popular in the team room and his decision to criticise Furyk is ill advised. His wife and her family are not helping his image. All of these things are true, regardless of your thoughts on Reed; whether you see him as villain, victim, or something in between.

Analysis of European success clearly includes their team dynamic, the bringing together of 12 individuals to make one team. It is difficult to imagine Reed being invited to join a WhatsApp group like the one Europe created and engaged with throughout the Ryder Cup build-up, less still contributing to it.

Perhaps, in two years, whoever does captain America will face the difficult decision as to whether 'Captain America' should be selected. Perhaps, in two years, they'll put the team first and decide that the best answer might just be no.

Koepka faces the music

On Friday morning at the Ryder Cup, when all was looking bright for America, Brooks Koepka struck a spectator with an errant tee-shot on the sixth hole. The lady in question, Corine Remande, has been blinded in one eye as a result in a terrible accident. She is the victim here and deserves great sympathy.

Remande has criticised organisers for their failure to alert spectators to the prospect of competitors attempting to drive the green. She's also lamented a lack of safety information, poor communication from marshals and, most damning of all, a failure to check up on her condition after the event. If the latter is true, it's no wonder that she's furious and has vowed never to watch the Ryder Cup again.

It's difficult for someone who watches a lot of golf to agree with some of her complaints; it's harder to disagree without appearing heartless. And so we'll leave it there. The hope is that she's looked after - emotionally as well as financially - from this point on and is able to live her life virtually unhindered by what happened.

As for Koepka, it's clear watching back that he and other members of the group did shout fore. It's equally clear that this is not always the case, and that the PGA Tour in particular need to start enforcing shouts for wayward shots. It's simply baffling that players don't do it regardless. Shouting fore requires little effort and, while Koepka is correct to say that it may not always make a difference, that doesn't mean it should be forgotten about.

Koepka was deeply sympathetic and looked severely shaken, still, when he spoke to the media at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He wasn't obliged to do so and deserves real credit for finding the right words at an extremely emotional time.

"There's nobody that feels worse about this than I did," he said - and he meant it. "It's a tragic accident what happened. I mean, I'm heartbroken. I'm all messed up inside.

"In my career it will be the one shot that I definitely regret, even though everyone has assured me she's going to get the proper care that she needs and hopefully I can just speak to her because there's nothing more I would love to do than just to talk to her."

The weekend ahead

The 2019 PGA Tour season began on Thursday with the Safeway Open, while in Scotland it's the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. At the time of writing, Tyrrell Hatton is on the charge in the latter while Brendan Steele has made a solid start in California. That's significant, because both men won these events not only in 2017, but in 2016, too. There are few other sports in which you could've had around 600/1 for history repeating and repeating but truth be told neither man appealed to me before tee-off.

For Hatton to win having, in his own words, gone to sleep next to a toilet at the end of Sunday's raucous Ryder Cup party would be quite something. Steele, meanwhile, has been in abysmal form, enduring one of the worst runs of his career. That said, a new season means a new start for many and, clearly, a return to wine country and a golf course made for his game remains just the tonic.

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