The last few months have been anything but easy for Patrick Reed.
The fallout from a two-stroke penalty for a pair of practice swings taken in a waste bunker at December’s Hero World Challenge has brought on heckling fans, an incident with his caddie and fan at the Presidents Cup and even a cease and desist sent from his attorney to Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.
In five events since the Hero, Reed has two missed cuts at the Sony Open as well as the Saudi International. He also has top-10 finishes with a T-2 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and T-6 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Despite more criticism from Brooks Koepka and claims of cheating by former CBS analyst Peter Kostis earlier this week, Reed brushed it all off and is working on another strong finish, this time at the WGC-Mexico Championship. After 36 holes, Reed is T-2 with Erik van Rooyen at 10 under, one shot behind leader Bryson DeChambeau.
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“I think the biggest thing for me is I just work so hard at it,” Reed said in a TV interview after his round on his ability to compartmentalize and block out the noise from outside the ropes. “My team and I work really hard, and I’m not going to lie, just the whole thing on the outside distracts us from our ultimate goal, and that’s to go out and play great golf and continue to try to improve every day on and off the golf course.”
“As long as you’re doing that, then you’re living the right way,” added Reed. “So at the end of the day, you can’t please everybody, and I feel like I’m doing everything I need to be doing to continue to strive in the game of golf hopefully on and off the golf course.”
