Reed denies ‘cheating’

Maligned American welcomes banter, defends reputation

MICHAEL WARNER

US bad boy Patrick Reed says he’s no cheat at golf.

“It’s just wrong. It’s just not right,” Reed declared of claims he deliberately shifted sand to improve his lie last week in the Bahamas.

“If you intentionally try to do something, then it is considered cheating, but if you’re not intentionally trying to give yourself a good lie or intentionally breaking a rule or something like that, that’s not considered cheating.

“It’s just considered breach of rule.”

Reed was heckled before he even hit a shot during yesterday’s practice round at Royal Melbourne.

“Next on the tee — the excavator,” one fan sledged within metres of the 2018 US Masters champ.

Reed dipped his hat and said later he welcomed the “banter”, even rolling out a wood cover depicting himself silencing the crowd, but the Bahamas “sand storm” has been an unwelcome distraction for his team’s Presidents Cup preparations.

International opponent Louis Oosthuizen poured fuel on the fire by declaring “it looked like a very stupid thing (Reed) did”.

“It doesn’t look great for him … it’s going to be a tough one to get rid of,” the smooth South African swinger said.

“If it was someone on my team, I know a bunch of us would ask him straight the question.”

Asked if he was hurt by the commentary, Reed said: “It goes from wanting to beat those guys to it now turning personal, so it’s going to be a fun week”.

US captain Tiger Woods conceded Reed would probably cop some special attention from the galleries across the weekend.

“Well, I’m sure somebody’s going to say something out there,” Woods said.

“(But) I think Pat will be fine. Pat is a great kid. He’s handled a tough upbringing well, and I just think that he’s one of our best team players and is one of the reasons why all of the guys wanted him on the team.”

Woods said he had a “short and brief” conversation with Reed on the flight to Australia and was adamant the issue had been put to bed.

Reed, a captain’s pick for the tournament, was penalised two shots during the Heroes World Challenge after TV footage captured him twice moving sand directly behind his ball with his club.