Patrick Reed opened the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship with a 2-under 69 on Thursday that left him inside the top 10, four strokes off the pace set by Rory McIlroy. Performance aside, Reed had other things to answer after the round.
This week, Reed’s name came up twice with notable figures in the golf world. Brooks Koepka, speaking on a SiriusXM PGA Tour radio program from Oakland, California, following a PGA Championship media event, was asked what he thought about Reed’s action in a waste bunker at the Hero World Challenge in December. Reed took two practice swings – caught on camera – that removed a pile of sand behind his ball. He was subsequently given a two-stroke penalty for improving his line of play.
“I mean, I don’t know what he was doing, building sand castles in the sand but, you know, you know where your club is,” he said. “I mean, I took three months off and I can promise you I know if I touched sand. It’s one of those things where you know, if you look at the video obviously he grazes the sand twice and then he still chops down on it.”
Peter Kostis, the former CBS golf analyst, also addressed actions he has seen Reed take on the golf course – that Kostis saw Reed “improve his lie, up close and personal, four times now.”
In Mexico City, Reed was asked after his opening round whether he’d seen Koepka’s statement and for his response to it. Kostis’ name did not come up in the question.
“Not really,” he said. “I mean, I said what I have to say about what happened in the Bahamas, and at the end of the day, all I’m trying to do is go out and play good golf and trying to win a golf championship and hopefully run Rory down.”
