It took just 30 days to get our first real rules controversy of 2021. Surprise, surprise, the man at the centre of it all is Patrick Reed.
Our Tod Leonard, who is on site at Torrey this week, will have much, much more on this Patrick Reed rules saga, but it would be completely silly to not at least mention it. It has lit Golf Twitter aflame, just as all rules controversies do, especially the ones that involve Reed.
The full exchange as Patrick Reed takes embedded ball relief on No. 10. pic.twitter.com/gSPH6PrAoW
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 30, 2021
Reed’s history, as we’re all aware, includes more than a few rules run-ins, and he did himself no favours Saturday afternoon on the 10th hole. After badly hooking his approach shot into the left rough, Reed arrived at his ball and picked it up before calling over a rules official. That’s, uh, something you should not do, though Reed insisted he handled the situation exactly how he was supposed to. By the way, he lifted it thinking the ball embedded on the fly, but a video replay – which showed his ball bounce – made that appear highly unlikely.
There was no penalty, and Reed will begin the final round in a tie for the lead at 10-under. The whole thing was very bizarre, and, unfortunately, not all that surprising.
