Tiger Woods found a way to quiet Patrick Reed on Ryder Cup drama

Tiger Woods is still most of a year away from leading his first Presidents Cup team as a captain. He’s already showing some real leadership, squashing Patrick Reed’s reignited Ryder Cup drama at the Hero World Challenge.

I admit it: I never thought Tiger Woods would be where he is today. Not the resurgence in his playing career, that was simply a question of his physical health. What I’m talking about is his position as a leader of other golfers, specifically in a team setting. However, with nearly a full year between now and the Presidents Cup, he’s showing that he’s more than ready for that role, as well, this time finding a way to calm down a fired up Patrick Reed.

For those of you who may have missed it, Reed found himself in the spotlight yet again on Wednesday and into Thursday at the Hero World Challenge, and not just for his play. The New York Post interviewed Reed as he prepared for the final event of 2018 in the Bahamas, and true to form, he wasn’t inclined to hold anything back.

On his perceived feud with Jordan Spieth, Reed said that he still believed that captain Jim Furyk’s decision to split the two up in favor of a Spieth team with Justin Thomas was done with only those two players in mind, instead of the team’s best interest. Shots fired, once again.

Reed attempted to soften his commentary a bit by saying that Spieth is “an awesome player”, but insisted that he hadn’t reached out to Jordan, either. “He has my number,” Reed said.

Then, he took aim, indirectly, at Phil Mickelson, drawing a comparison between Mickelson’s 2014 commentary on then-captain Tom Watson’s choices, and his own on Furyk this year.

“He did it and got praised. I did it and got destroyed. It all depends on who the person is, obviously,” Reed said. I don’t seem to recall many people (if any) praising Phil in the moment. It was controversial and brash, but Lefty also had 20 years of international competition under his belt. Reed made his Ryder Cup debut that year.

That brings us to this week. Tiger Woods has a lot on his plate right now, between playing host to this week’s elite invitational field, raising money for his foundation and – oh, yeah – working his way back as far up the PGA TOUR ranks as he can.

To his credit, Tiger has been far more open over the past year or so than at any other point in his career. We’ve seen him smile and mug for the press, and he’s been more than inviting when paired with newer players on TOUR. But as much as we’re starting to see flashes of the “old Tiger” on the course, we still need him to be that way off the course from time to time, too.

This might have been one of those times, and it’s better that way for all involved.

Woods didn’t play very well on Thursday, shooting a 1-over round of 73 to sit tied for 16th with Xander Schauffele. Reed, meanwhile, shot a stellar round of 65, tied atop the leaderboard with Patrick Cantlay. So obviously, the host couldn’t avoid the topic of his vocal tournament leader in the post-round presser.

Or could he?

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Woods was asked about his Ryder Cup partner, and the answer (such as it was) was simply perfect.

"“Yeah, we spoke after the Ryder Cup for a long period of time and, you know, we talked amongst us and it will stay between us.”"

One sentence, shut down. “It will stay between us”. Fine, it’s what we should expect of Tiger. He’s the consummate pro, coming off a bad round, and he’s got better things to do than make headlines. Surely Reed, riding high, would be more than happy to give us a sound bite.

“I mean, whatever I talk about with other players and other guys, you know, stays between the guys,” Reed said.

Wow. I mean, that makes sense. Except for the fact that Reed has literally never proven to be one to hide his true thoughts, good, bad or otherwise. And Captain America’s reserved response would make a lot of sense if it had come two months ago. No, this has Tiger’s fingerprints all over it, even more than Reed’s black-and-red Sunday wardrobe.

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This is nothing but positive. Woods is clearly working on two fronts. He’s earning the trust and respect of a group of players who largely haven’t had to compete much against him on the course. And he’s also proving to be the type of leader that the American team room needs, keeping business in-house and not dragging anybody down unnecessarily.

To be clear, I’ve got a ton of respect for Reed’s accomplishments on the course, and he’s clearly going to be a big part of America’s golf future, both in regular TOUR events and in international competition. That makes it more important that he learn the difference between being open and being too brash for his own good. It’s a fine line, but one he needs guidance to walk.

Who better to give that guidance than a 14-time major winner, with a well-documented killer instinct behind a typically calculated demeanor?

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