Gutsy Reed wins respect — affection will have to wait
Patrick Reed won’t have to wait until next April to defend his title in the Masters.
Even as he slipped into a green jacket, he was perceived more as a villain than a victor.
The loudest cheer from the first tee at Augusta National was for Rory McIlroy, who played with Reed in the final round. The loudest cheer on the 18th green was for Rickie Fowler, who finished ahead of Reed. The mood all afternoon screamed out, “Anyone but Patrick.”
Reed had the last shot, a 3-foot par putt for a one-shot victory and his first major championship.
All he did was play a brand of golf that champions from any era would embrace.
He seized control on Saturday with two eagles on the back nine, the second a 3-wood from just under 270 yards into the wet, heavy air that barely cleared the water in front of the 15th green. From there, he chipped in from 80 feet. And on Sunday, he heard the cheers ahead of him for Jordan Spieth and answered with a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 12 and an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 14.
That’s how you win majors and earn respect.
The applause, however, sounded more like acceptance than celebration. Instead of looking ahead to how much more this Masters champion might achieve, the inclination was to look into the past of a flawed character in a green jacket.
Reed wasn’t anyone’s favorite Sunday outside of his immediately family, and that includes parents with whom he has had no contact for more than five years. They live a few miles from Augusta National.
Even without a checkered past at two colleges — Georgia and Augusta State — or Reed’s brash claim after his third PGA Tour victory that he considered himself among the top five players in golf, the role of villain fit as snugly as that green jacket.
Reed didn’t care when someone asked Saturday night why fans don’t embrace him. “Why don’t you ask them?” he said. “I’m out here to do my job, and that’s to play golf. I feel like if I’m doing it the right way, then that’s all that really matters.”
There were plenty of American fans cheering for him at the 2016 Ryder Cup when he matched McIlroy shot for shot and at one point wagged his finger at him.
“He’s a member of the Masters Club now. He’ll have a green jacket forever,” Spieth said. “His name is etched in history, and I’m sure he’s going to carry everything that he went through today and go into Paris and try and win a Ryder Cup on European soil.”
They love him in red, white and blue. Perhaps one of these days, they’ll come to embrace him in green.