Team USA Ryder Cup Meltdown Continues - Patrick Reed Called 'Full of S---'
Today on “Cooking Time,” we’ll be making Chernobyl Surprise, a tasty meltdown. The ingredients are simple and the preparation couldn’t be easier.
To start, mix team sports and volatile personalities who usually focus on their individual accolades in a bowl. Then, stir in a hefty dollop of failure on the field of play and humiliating defeat.
Finally, bake in the crucible of media scrutiny, and voila! Chernobyl Surprise. Garnish with a golf ball and serve.
Team USA’s Ryder Cup team got a big helping of this dish over the weekend, as Team Europe slaughtered the Yanks 17.5-10.5 in a one-sided beatdown that looked like one of Mike Tyson’s old boxing matches in the ’80s in golf form.
And Patrick Reed, upset about captain Jim Furyk’s decisions as far as playing partners, unleashed a torrent of anger, especially regarding his separation from Jordan Spieth, a pairing that had been successful at the last Ryder Cup in 2016.
“The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me,” Reed told The New York Times. “I don’t have any issue with Jordan. When it comes right down to it, I don’t care if I like the person I’m paired with or the person likes me as long as it works and it sets up the team for success. He and I know how to make each other better. We know how to get the job done.”
Reed went 1-2 during this year’s Ryder Cup, winning a singles match but falling short in doubles when paired with Tiger Woods.
Speaking of Woods, he was part of a disastrous performance by all of Furyk’s wild-card selections for the team. Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau scored zero wins during the tournament.
Reed’s views were far from unanimous on Team USA. Spieth leaped to the defense of Furyk when speaking to ESPN.
“We were totally involved with every decision that was made,” Spieth said. “Jim allowed it to be a player-friendly environment. And we were involved and we thought that the teams came out of our four-man squad, (Reed, Spieth, Woods and Spieth’s playing partner, Justin Thomas, with whom he went 3-1). We had two potentially fantastic teams and we went out and tried to play our best.”
As for Reed’s claim that Spieth was ducking him, another Team USA player was having none of it, offering a distinctly different version of events on condition of anonymity.
“He is so full of s—,” the source told the New York Post on Monday. “Blindsided my ass. He begged to play with Tiger.”
Reed is notoriously volatile, and this was just another mark on his rap sheet.
In March, Reed snapped at a rules official, saying, “I guess my name has to be Jordan Spieth (to get a favorable ruling).”
Reed’s wife, Justine, or at least a Twitter account that supposedly belongs to her, said, “You don’t have to love the people you work with — but when you have chemistry and success, you go with it for the TEAM.”
I can assure you- you’re wrong. Patrick never said that he didn’t want to play with Jordan. Maybe you should ask Jordan why he didn’t want to play with Patrick. You don’t have to love the people you work with- but when you have chemistry and success, you go with it for the TEAM.
— Justine (@JustineKReed) September 28, 2018
Meanwhile, all of this has to be tempered by the fact that Reed played poorly at the tournament.
As soon as a team in any team sport starts losing, a malcontent will arise and start yammering about how it’s the fault of the coach or the captain or one of the other players.
The one person who seems to be exempt from Reed’s ramblings? Patrick Reed himself.
Furyk, meanwhile, in true coaching fashion, said that any criticism of roster decisions should be directed at him.
Regardless of why the chemistry fell apart on Team USA, the simple fact remains that they got utterly clobbered and embarrassed on the golf course. Which, ultimately, is the only thing that matters.
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