{{ubiquityData.prevArticle.description}}
{{ubiquityData.nextArticle.description}}
Patrick Reed may have said all he intends to say about his high-profile rules violation at the Hero World Challenge last December but the subject isn’t going away.
During separate interviews last week, Brooks Koepka and former TV analyst Peter Kostis were critical of Reed (above) and his actions on the golf course, which were called into question when he did not call a penalty on himself after moving sand in a bunker on two practice swings in the Hero event.
“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 (McIlroy) down,” Reed said when asked about the comments after his first round in the WGC-Mexico Championship, which he subsequently went on to win.
Koepka was asked about Reed’s violation – Reed ultimately was penalized after PGA Tour officials showed him video of the infraction – during a SiriusXM radio interview.
“I don't know what he was doing, building sand castles in the sand, but you know where your club is,” Koepka 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.
“If you play the game, you understand the rules. You understand the integrity that goes on. I mean, there’s no room for it.”
Brooks Koepka
"I guess the (Houston) Astros are going through that right now. (Owner) Jim Crane said it, when he got asked, 'Is it cheating?' And he said, 'No, we just broke the rules.' ... If you play the game, you understand the rules. You understand the integrity that goes on. I mean, there's no room for it."
Speaking on a No Laying Up podcast, Kostis, whose long career as an analyst for CBS Sports ended recently, was sharply critical of Reed.
"I've seen Patrick Reed improve his lie, up close and personal, four times now," said Kostis, who singled out an incident in the 2016 Barclays at Bethpage Black where the announcer said he saw Reed – who won the event – use an iron to adjust the grass behind the ball before hitting a 3-wood shot.
"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,' " Kostis said. "Because he put four or five clubs behind the ball, kind of faking whether he's going to hit this shot or hit that shot. By the time he was done, he hit a freaking 3-wood out of there, which when I saw it, it was a sand wedge lay-up originally."
Kostis went on to say he saw other instances when he believed Reed violated the rules.
"I'm not even sure that he knows that he's doing it sometimes. Maybe he does, I don't know," Kostis said. "I'm not going to assign intent. All I'm going to tell you is what I saw."
Staff and Wire Reports