IS IT TIME TO BACK OFF PATRICK REED?
WINNING the Masters and donning the green jacket was a “dream come true” for Patrick Reed. But that dream was short lived and has since become an endless nightmare, as he continues to cop a barrage of digital hatred. When somebody wins the Masters (or any major championship for that matter) the press will inevitably present the player’s backstory to the public to add substance to the story.
Unfortunately for Reed – who has a tendency to shy away from the media – his story revolved around his family issues and chequered college days, which had already polarised him on Tour and weakened his public persona.
Indeed, Reed was an unpopular champion – and that probably would’ve been the case prior to the digital age, too – but with platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the negativity grew like wildfire … There was no escaping it.
Any positive story or social post congratulating the Texan was immediately inundated with abusive messages. Things snowballed from there (as they tend to do with the internet) and suddenly Reed was dubbed “golf’s most hated man”.
Now, most of you will already be aware that Reed was accused of cheating and stealing from his college teammates during his time at the University of Georgia and Augusta State. But Kevin Kisner, who attended Georgia alongside Reed, recently fuelled the fire when he reportedly said he wasn’t sure whether he or his fellow old collegians would “p**s on him if he was on fire.”
Perhaps some of that (though certainly not much) was warranted. Reed hasn’t had many people leaping to his defence through all of this – and at least Kisner offered something of an informed opinion.
But how does anything Reed say or do lead to Joe Blow from God knows where forming such deep-seated hatred towards someone they’ve never actually met?
It’s completely irrational and it has the potential to inflict very real damage.
Reed has previously stated “it doesn’t bother him” whether people love him or hate him. But how much abuse can one man take?