'When you make birdies, you don't hear much': Patrick Reed quiets hecklers with play

MELBOURNE, Australia – When Patrick Reed arrived at the first tee for his Sunday singles match with C.T. Pan, he was greeted by fans chanting, “The Imperial March,” otherwise known as Darth Vader’s theme, the catchy tune that plays in the Star Wars franchise whenever he appears.

That was the fans being kind. They called golf’s favorite villain “the world’s worst bloke,” “a coward,” “cheater,” and told him to “keep digging, mate.”

Three days of unsavory headlines and relentless heckling from Australian crowds at Royal Melbourne finally ignited the kind of take-no-prisoners play that Reed is known for in team events. Reed started his match against Pan with three consecutive birdies to win the first three holes and built a 6-up lead through seven holes.

When asked about the crowds on Sunday after his match by Golf Channel’s Steve Sands, he said: “When you make birdies, you don’t hear much.”

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Reed didn’t silence all the fans. From the top of the grandstand behind the second green, a lone voice rang out. “Patrick, looks like that shovel was too much for your caddie,” he said.

Laughter ensued as the wannabe funnyman playfully referenced at once Reed’s infraction at the Hero World Challenge for improving his lie in a waste area and that Reed’s caddie had been banned from working his Sunday match. When Reed poured in his birdie putt to go 2 up he gave the spectator the stink-eye. Before long, a police officer and one of the Tour’s plain-clothes security men issued a stiff warning to the spectator. It wouldn’t be the last time a fan was on the verge of getting tossed.

Reed, of course, had a new caddie for singles. His coach Kevin Kirk, who said he got the call to fill in at 5 o’clock on Saturday, took over for Kessler Karain after Karain made headlines in the third round for getting into an altercation with a fan who Karain thought had taken the heckling too far. Karain, who is also Reed’s brother-in-law, was barred from returning to the course for singles play. Reed’s wife, who usually walks with him, was conspicuously absent too.

Some have questioned how the heckling aimed at Reed had been allowed to go so far. Security kept a tighter grip on the situation on Sunday, and even addressed an outspoken fan at the second hole. Four police officers in full uniforms and three of the Tour’s top security officials walked with Reed’s group to ensure things didn’t get out of hand.

At the fourth hole, a fan who was dressed like he was going for a day at nearby St. Kilda’s beach, cried, “You’re a coward, Patrick, and your caddie’s a coward.” A police officer pointed a finger in the spectator’s face and said in no uncertain terms, “If I hear one more word out of you, you’re gone.”

No one needed to be ejected. Instead, the fans were treated to some brilliant play from Reed. When he poured in a par putt at the 4th to go 4 up, he yelled, “C’mon,” and after blasting out from the front-right green side bunker, a shot that NBC’s Jim “Bones” Mackay characterized as the best bunker shot he’d ever seen, Reed pointed to assistant captain Fred Couples and let out a throaty, “Let’s go!”

Despite the soap-opera week for Reed, he showed once again that he’s a beast in the match-play singles format, improving to 4-1-1 combined between Presidents and Ryder Cups, and possesses an uncanny ability to put on blinders once he steps inside the ropes.

“That’s what makes him a champion,” Kirk said. “The best players can compartmentalize and have the capacity to allow things to be chaotic and still compartmentalize. He’s really good at that. I’ve just seen it firsthand.”

Pan showed some grit in cutting his deficit to 2 down thru 14, but whereas the Americans let some big leads slip away on Saturday, Reed closed out Pan 4 and 2, giving the Americans their 11th point of the competition en route to a 16-14 Team USA victory.

“He showed up with a calmness and he was ready to play and he was going to be a tough guy to beat today,” Kirk said.

Reed said having Kirk on the bag in Karain’s place was an easy adjustment.

“Kessler was missed, but KK has been out there for the practice rounds. He knew what to do in the different situations,” said Reed, noting that Kirk studied his yardage book overnight and was able to put it to good use.

So what did Reed learn this week?

“The biggest thing is just continue grinding and not let the crowd get in your way of what you’re doing, which is to play golf,” he said.