Farmers Insurance Open: Patrick Reeds Skirts Rules Again

Patrick Reed holds a share of the lead at the Farmers Insurance Open with 18 holes to play. Reed and Carlos Ortiz are both at 10-under par and two shots clear of a group that includes Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Adam Scott.

But, as has happened with Reed many times before, the discussion is not necessarily about his solid play through three days. Instead, it’s about what Reed did on the 10th hole at Torrey Pines on Saturday.

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Playing the par four, Reed drove his ball just under 300 yards and into a fairway bunker. On his second shot, he pulled the ball left and into the rough.

As Reed approached his ball, he was greeted by a tournament volunteer who told Reed that the ball did not bounce, likely meaning that it was embedded in the soft turf at Torrey. As Reed approached his ball, that appeared to be the case.

However, here’s where Reed went wrong. He called for a rules official, Brad Fabel, to come help him if his ball was embedded. But before Fabel arrived, Reed had picked up his ball to, in his words, identify it.

Here’s where the argument ensues. Pro-Reed people will say that, of course, he needed to make sure the ball was his. And technically, they are right.

But the rest of the golfing world knows how this one should have played out. Reed should have left his ball alone until Fabel or another rules official arrived on the scene. At that point, Reed could have done two things.

One, he could have determined if the ball itself was embedded without question. Once that determination was made, the ball could have been identified as Reed’s, or not.

By picking his ball up before the rules official arrived on scene, Reed could have tampered with the evidence of an embedded ball. How do we know he didn’t press the ball down a little bit before he picked it up? Honestly, we don’t.

This is just the latest example of Reed skirting the rules. It has happened time and again and it’s not going to stop. Football, basketball and baseball have dirty players. And now, so does golf. And his name is Patrick Reed.