Patrick Reed insisted he made a “textbook” call and felt “great” after being involved in another rules controversy at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Reed benefitted from a controversial ruling on the par-four 10th at Torrey Pines when he hit a 190-yard shot out of a bunker, with a TV replay showing the ball bounced once before settling into the rough.
Believing the ball did not bounce, Reed picked it up to see if it was embedded before a rules official arrived and without asking his playing partners to look for a second opinion.
The full exchange as Patrick Reed takes embedded ball relief on No. 10. pic.twitter.com/gSPH6PrAoW
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 30, 2021
The American Ryder Cup star, who was penalised two strokes for appearing to deliberately improve his lie in a bunker at the Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in December 2019, was awarded a free drop and saved par. It’s the latest in a string of controversies during Reed’s career, stretching back to his college golf days.
“The ball just disappeared. None of us saw it bounce,” Reed told The Golf Channel, adding that a nearby volunteer also said that it did not bounce.
“I looked at my group and said, ‘Guys, she didn’t see it bounce it, either, so I’m going to mark this ball and see if it’s embedded.’ Once I marked it, the first thing I wanted to do was make sure I got the ball out of my hand because you don’t want to clean it or anything because you don’t know if it’s embedded yet.
“When I put my finger down there and felt like it has broken ground, the first thing you do is call the rules official. The rules official said, ‘Yes, there’s a lip here, it definitely broke the plane.’ It’s an embedded ball, you get a club length and take a drop, and at that point we did exactly what we were supposed to do.”
Reed said he was later approached by the rules official after completing his two-under par round of 70. “He had his phone out and shows us the video,” Reed said. “He said ‘I just want to let you know what you’ve done here in the whole procedure was textbook, it was perfect.’
“It’s an unfortunate situation obviously... but when you’re told that you’ve done this perfectly, you did this the exact right way, the protocols you did were spot on, at that point, you know, I feel great about it. It happened the ball did bounce, but because no one in the whole group or the volunteer saw it bounce we were able to take relief.
“If someone had seen the video or saw the ball bounce obviously I wouldn’t have marked the ball or attempted to ask for embedded ball.”
PGA Tour rules official John Mutch said Reed acted within the rules after being told that his ball did not bounce.
Mutch said: “He did nothing wrong. He marked it, lifted it and called for a ruling.”
Later on a tweet was posted on Reed’s official account claiming that Rory McIlroy had taken a similar drop on the 18th on Saturday.
The tweet read: “RORY MCILROY @McIlroyRory DID THE SAME THING TODAY ON HOLE 18! AND DIDN’T EVEN CALL A RULES OFFICIAL OVER TO DEEM THE BALL EMBEDDED. END OF STORY.”
The tweet has since been deleted.
The incident at the 10th appeared to affect Reed as he made four bogeys on the back nine.
But a birdie on the 18th gave him a share of the lead with Mexican Carlos Ortiz, who carded a 66, heading into the final round on the Californian coast.
Jon Rahm and Adam Scott are in a group of five players two shots back, with Rory McIlroy a shot further back on seven under.
McIlroy made a slow start with a bogey at the fourth before picking up birdies at the seventh, ninth and 13th to get within three of the lead with one round to play.
Collated third round scores & totals in the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines GC, San Diego, California United States of America (USA unless stated, par 72):
206 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 72 68 66, Patrick Reed 64 72 70
208 Sam Burns 66 72 70, Lanto Griffin 66 70 72, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 70 65 73, Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 67 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 67 69 72
209 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 71 70, Ryan Palmer 66 70 73, Sam Ryder 71 69 69, Will Zalatoris 68 71 70
210 Tony Finau 69 67 74, Peter Malnati 66 71 73, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 73 69 68, Xander Schauffele 70 72 68, Robby Shelton 73 64 73
211 Max Homa 71 68 72, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 72 67 72, Richy Werenski 69 69 73
212 Cameron Davis (Aus) 70 71 71, Will Gordon 67 70 75, Adam Hadwin (Can) 69 70 73, Bo Hoag 72 69 71, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 69 74 69, Ted Potter Jr. 71 69 72, Kyle Stanley 72 70 70
213 Wyndham Clark 67 73 73, Jason Kokrak 70 69 74, Marc Leishman (Aus) 71 70 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 64 74 75, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 71 70, Cameron Tringale 72 69 72
214 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 70 73 71, Doug Ghim 70 71 73, Brandon Hagy 66 75 73, Tom Lewis (Eng) 68 75 71, J. T. Poston 69 74 71, Bill Haas 71 71 72
215 Rhein Gibson (Aus) 66 76 73, Lucas Glover 68 72 75, Luke List 66 77 72, Denny McCarthy 67 75 73, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 71 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 72 73
216 Joseph Bramlett 69 73 74, Corey Conners (Can) 72 71 73, Rickie Fowler 70 73 73, Harry Higgs 71 69 76, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 74 68 74, Cameron Percy (Aus) 71 72 73, Chase Seiffert 72 68 76, Brandt Snedeker 69 70 77, Kevin Streelman 68 75 73, Justin Suh 71 72 73
217 Bronson Burgoon 69 74 74, Talor Gooch 66 74 77, John Huh 69 72 76, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 73 74, Michael Kim 69 74 74, Danny Lee (Nzl) 74 67 76, Phil Mickelson 71 72 74, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 70 73 74
218 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 72 71 75, Pat Perez 71 70 77, Gary Woodland 66 75 77, Tain Lee 71 72 75
219 K. J. Choi (Kor) 66 76 77, Kyle Mendoza 73 69 77, Troy Merritt 71 72 76, Matthew NeSmith 70 73 76, Roger Sloan (Can) 68 73 78, Steve Stricker 72 70 77
220 Kevin Stadler 71 72 77, Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 74 77
221 Jason Dufner 74 69 78, Kelly Kraft 73 69 79, Tyler McCumber 76 67 78
223 Grayson Murray 69 73 81
223 Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 67 76 80
