The troubled life of a champion
He has won the biggest golf tournament in the world but Patrick Reed is dogged by controversy, claims of cheating ...and a horrifying family rift
IT’S the moment every golfer in the world dreams of: winning the US Masters, the greatest tournament on earth and the gateway to lifelong fame and riches. And yet when American star Patrick Reed became Masters Champion for 2018 last Sunday, in the very state where he went to university, the celebrations were strangely muted.
Most obviously, his own parents and his younger sister were not there to celebrate with him – something almost unheard of in the sport. On top of that, there was no obvious support from the two local universities he attended — and where he had achieved great sporting success. So just why is Patrick Reed, for all his talent, such a divisive figure? And how has he managed to fall out so spectacularly with so many people during his relatively short career?
The answer, in truth, would make most fiction writers blush. At the age of just 27, the new champion has already been beset by allegations of cheating and stealing; was exiled by his own college team-mates; was kicked out of one university and suspended by the next; has been ridiculed by spectators for his arrogant and bad-tempered behaviour on the fairways; was outed in 2016 as having a controversial medical exemption for an ADHD medication that helps to increase concentration.
And that’s before you even start on his extraordinary family rifts...
Certainly, though, there were few media reports this week that did not mention how Reed’s family were absent as he strode towards the 18th hole of Augusta National golf club to claim his first Major title. It is an age-old tradition that the winner’s parents meet him at the end of the course and watch proudly as he pulls on the victor’s Green Jacket.
Reed’s mum and dad, however, were at their home watching him on television, banned from attending the competition, even though it was being held just three miles away from where they live. As their eldest child beamed for the cameras and posed in his hard-won blazer, Bill and Jeannette Reed clung to each other and cried. Their son has not seen or spoken to them for six years.
As we shall see, social media has played a large part in Reed’s story, as has his parents’ willingness to repeatedly share their tale of woe, most recently just this Sunday with a reporter they invited to their home to watch the competition. But let’s start from the beginning.
According to the Reeds, Patrick had a happy childhood growing up in San Antonio, Texas, where he was born in 1990, filled with love and attention and, at his own insistence, golf. One of his first gifts was a set of small plastic golf clubs.
He was naturally gifted but he was also extraordinarily focused and determined. He has told of how, as a small boy, he would head out in the morning, shortly after dawn, and hit golf balls all day, often leaving his hands badly blistered.
While his parents encouraged and helped foster his passion for the sport, they say that at times they also worried about his obsessiveness and how his mood was affected when he played badly. His temper was described as volcanic.
When he was just ten years old he stopped wearing shorts on the golf course because he saw how professional players were only allowed to wear trousers. So from then on, despite the sweltering heat, he was the only child who wore long pants while playing in tournaments.
His perseverance was to pay off. Barely 15 years old, he won the 2006 Junior British Open and the following year qualified for the US Amateur Championship. At 17 he won a place at the prestigious University of Georgia, which proved to be an unhappy experience for all concerned.
His brash, immature nature and penchant for boasting about his ability won him few friends. And as author and golf journalist, Shane Ryan, discovered while researching his 2015 book, Slaying The Tiger, it didn’t help matters when allegations of cheating and theft arose.
According to several sources Ryan spoke to, Reed was caught cheating during a qualifying round for a tournament. He denied the charges then and has continued to deny them. Around the same time, items went missing from the team locker room, including a watch, an expensive putter and around $400 (€325) in notes.
When Reed, still only 17, turned up at college the next day with a lot of cash, he was confronted by a team-mate. He claimed he had recently played a golf game with one of his professors and won the money from him. The professor, however, said he had not played Reed in several weeks. Neither of these matters were taken any further at the time. It was when he was caught and arrested on campus for being drunk and with a false ID that things finally came to a head. It was agreed that he would leave the University of Georgia for good at the end of his first year.
At this stage his parents were now living in Augusta. Still considered a phenomenal golf talent, Patrick was offered a place at Augusta State.
Almost immediately his arrogant personality and habit of telling everyone he was better than them, made him, once again, intensely unpopular.
At one stage he was suspended because, according to Ryan’s sources, he had been caught cheating in a qualifying event again.
Although hated by his teammates, who took a vote to kick him out, he remained at Augusta, thanks to the support of the head coach and led them to two National College titles.
It was also at Augusta where he met Justine Karain. Four years older than him, the petite blonde was also big into sports. A swimmer, a golfer and footballer, after graduating from college she worked as a nurse. But when Reed turned professional at the age of 20, Justine decided to ditch her job to become his full-time caddie.
Although just over five feet tall, she hauled around his clubs for more than two years as he went on tour. According to Reed, her advice was invaluable.
‘She helped me so much,’ he explained. ‘When the gun goes off, I want to fire at every flag and try to birdie every hole, but she’s very poised, and she would get me to slow down and think things through.’
It was around this time that things began to sour badly with his family. Shortly after graduating
His arrogance made him intensely unpopular
college in November 2011 he moved out of home. A few months later be broke off contact with his parents and his only sibling, younger sister Hannah.
His parents have always claimed it’s because they voiced their concerns to him about his decision to marry Justine in December 2012. They felt at 22 he was too young to settle down.
There have been some reports that Bill pushed his son too hard as a youngster, others who knew them say the drive and commitment was all down to Patrick.
Neither Bill, Jeanette or Hannah were invited to the wedding and a few months later they weren’t there to see him make his Masters debut in their home town.
They have told how they have repeatedly tried to make contact with him, through emails, calls and through friends. But he has refused to have anything to do with them.
In 2014 there was a horrendous episode when Bill and Jeanette got tickets to the US Open and went to watch their son play. But by the time they got to the 18th hole they were surrounded by police officers and escorted off the grounds.
Jeanette has claimed that their tournament badges were confiscated by a competition official who told them they were acting on Justine’s wishes.
Things went from bad to worse the following year after the publication of Shane Ryan’s book, which chronicled Reed’s early tribulations in college and quoted his parents as saying they had worried about his arrogant behaviour.
Justine took to her Facebook page to address these allegations and other online claims that he was under her control.
‘You, nor anyone else know anything about Patrick and I or our private lives,’ she wrote. ‘His parents verbally and physically abused him for most of his life, abused alcohol, and would get in fist fights with him in the parking lots after bad rounds.
‘Patrick was seen as a “meal ticket”. Not my words, his. I love my husband and we have a beautiful daughter, Windsor-Wells Reed, and obviously NONE OF YOU KNOW my husband because NO ONE controls him.
‘He is a man who makes his own decisions and as his wife, I help make decisions for our family and our lives. We are a team. The last thing I would ever want for my daughter is to grow up in an environment like my husband did.
‘This is no sob story, we don’t have time for that. This is the truth. And if the media’s perception of him is obscure it’s only because of his parents’ doings. Who talks about their children the way they did and write about him in a book?
‘They are sick people and need help. Time will tell all. And people are starting to wake-up and realise what kind of people his parents really are.’
Reed’s little sister, Hannah, responded with her own Facebook post, which included: ‘Over the past few years, I have sat back and watched the numerous and disgusting accusations his wife, mother-in-law and everyone now associated as his family have made.
‘Patrick is not the same person he used to be. He accused me of faking my own two kidney surgeries to get him back in my life, completely disowned me, never wishing me a happy birthday, congrations [sic] for graduating, etc. I have reached out to him This is not a brother but a selfish stranger various times and get no response.
‘This is not a brother any more, but a selfish, horrible stranger and it’s heartbreaking. He had an AMAZING life. My parents gave up EVERYTHING for his dream of becoming a golfer.
‘How can you win events and not thank your parents? They are the reason you even have the best possible chance of achieving your dream.
‘There was NEVER EVER any abuse mentally or physically, abuse of alcohol, or fist fights in the parking lot because he had a bad round.
‘The fact that Patrick is allowing his new family to say that is insane. From growing up with him first hand, I know the TRUTH. I am sick and tired of Patrick, his new family and the media portraying my family, especially my parents, as abusive and crazy people.
‘It is devastating seeing my parents hurt and suffer from what is being posted about them.’
It does seem as though Reed has simply swapped his own family for Justine’s. Her brother Kessler took over as his caddy, her sister Kris was the nanny for their first child Windsor-Wells, who is now three.
Her mother Janet has been described as their ‘Chief-of-Staff,’ travelling with the couple on tour and helping them take care of their two children — son Barrett was born last December.
In the meantime, Reed’s own mother, Jeannette, keeps up to date with her son’s golf career via the internet, regularly re-tweeting articles about his progress. Or at other times addressing him directly, revealing some of her anguish at their separation.
‘Miss you, Brat,’ she said in an affectionate tweet on his birthday last year. Another post, from 2016, says: ‘One of the hardest things you will ever have to do is to grieve the loss of a person who is still alive.’ While her most recent offering, from last week, remarks: ‘Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing at all.’
The rift between Reed and his family is unlikely to heal any time soon. He has always refused to answer any questions about them.
Most recently at the post-Masters press conference when he was asked: ‘Patrick, your Augusta roots run deep. Is it bitter-sweet to not share this moment with your parents and sister?’
‘I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments,’ is all he would say.
Indeed his desire to win and selfbelief is already legendary. His reputation for being bad-tempered and dour on the fairways (he famously ‘shushed’ European Ryder Cup spectators in 2014), however, has won him few fans.
The reaction to his win was decidedly and noticeably muted, even though it was in the city where he went to college.
Further questions were raised in in 2016 after it was revealed that he has an exemption to take medication for ADHD. He had a prescription for Vyvanse, which is known to help with concentration, from August 2013 and which expired last August. It’s not known if he has applied for a new such exemption.
Patrick has claimed, repeatedly, not to mind what people think of him. His bank balance certainly allows him the luxury of not caring. Since going professional he has won just over €16.2million in prize money. On Sunday alone he took home just under €1.6million. Endorsements are set to make him even richer.
But how long can he keep up this feud with his family without it causing irreparable damage to all concerned, including himself?
His parents have never met his children. And while he did thank his family in his victory speech, it was clear it was not his parents or sister he was referring to.
Some might claim that this sense of grievance and anger has helped push Reed to the top, giving him an inner drive that other, happier competitors might lack. Whether Sunday’s Masters victory will mellow him enough to rebuild bridges remains to be seen: but on the evidence to date, don’t expect his family to be celebrating successes with him any time soon.