America’s most taunted
One of their own has just won The Masters but still Uncle Sam doesn’t love Patrick Reed
EVERYONE loves a winner they say. Not if that winner is Patrick Reed.
One of the most fascinating subtexts to the dramatic story unfolding at Augusta National on Sunday night was the muted reaction to the breakthrough Major victory of an ace who should be an All-American hero.
This is, after all, Mr Stars & Stripes we’re talking about.
The Team USA talisman who inspired the Ryder Cup victory his brow-beaten country had craved after spending the majority of the past 20 years playing second fiddle to Europe.
The fist-pumping, finger- pointing brawler who went head to head with Rory McIlroy in the first duel of the final-day singles and took down Europe’s star man in a bristling, high-octane encounter.
So how could it be when the pair were reunited on Augusta’s first tee on Sunday afternoon it was McIlroy who got the loudest cheers from the hordes behind the ropes?
The simple answer is from Augusta’s patrons to his peers, Reed is simply unpopular.
Of course he’s by no means the only bloke with an unfortunate manner to have been helped into the most coveted item of clothing in golf.
For instance God help any poor former Masters winner who cops a seat wedged in between Reed and Sir Nick Faldo at next year’s Champions Dinner.
The point is there are plenty of successful sportsmen and women out there whose aloof, difficult nature makes them hard to love no matter the greatness of their achievements.
So what makes Reed such a pantomime villain? Why has the response to his greatest moment in golf been so grudgingly lukewarm?
Forget him making a big show of putting his index finger to his lips to shush the Gleneagles crowd when he holed a crucial putt during his Ryder Cup debut in 2014.
That was pure theatre and to be honest the European fans loved him impishly playing up to them that day.
In a sport increasingly populated by robots who speak the same bland media-trained phrases and reveal little of themselves, genuine characters are rare blessings to cherish.
But it’s the perceived dark flaws within this particular character that lie at the heart of his unpopularity.
Driven, combative and unashamedly confident to a point way beyond arrogance, the young Reed quickly alienated himself in not one but two college golf teams during his late teens.
Kicked off the University of Georgia’s golf team amid accusations of cheating on the course and thieving from
God help any former Masters winner who cops a seat wedged between