Presidents Cup 2019: Patrick Reed heckled on 1st tee, sends shot into bunker

The anticipation for Patrick Reed’s debut at the 2019 Presidents Cup was great, and one fan certainly made the most of the moment at Royal Melbourne.

After Reed was serenaded kindly by a group of singing American fans, he approached the tee. As he analyzed his line, one spectator caught everyone’s attention: “Reed, are you going to make your caddie carry 14 clubs and a shovel?”

The golfer paid no attention. Or at least that’s how it seemed. As you likely know, Reed’s week has been dominated by his actions in last weekend’s Hero World Challenge, in which he was penalized two strokes during the third round after improving his lie.

The early week discussion at the Presidents Cup centered around Reed, how much Tiger Woods should play him, what his conclusions were, etc. Well, Woods sent him out with even-keeled Webb Simpson.

Ironically, Reed’s first tee shot ended up right where the Golf Gods intended: a bunker. Reed smashed his tee shot through the fast and firm fairway on the 1st and right into the greenside bunker right of the hole. The home crowd cheered, but only until the next three players — Webb Simpson, Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan — all hit errant tee shots. Reed’s was the best of the bunch.

Matsuyama scrambled for par while Reed ended up missing his birdie putt. No blood, only one good chirp from the home crowd. There is sure to be more where that came from.

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