Much attention has been paid to U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley’s looming conundrum about whether or not he should include himself as one of his picks to play at Bethpage Black. But Bradley has far bigger and more controversial decisions about which to worry.
Like Patrick Reed.
It’s easy to believe that Bradley has already made up his mind about Reed, considering the polarizing LIV golfer once dubbed “Captain America” was not even invited to a dinner of potential Team USA candidates in May near Philadelphia a week before the PGA Championship. Along with Bryson DeChambeau, Bradley did invite LIV’s Brooks Koepka to the informal gathering even though Koepka isn’t within five time zones of Reed in any measurable standards of current form.
So, long before Reed won his first LIV event in 41 starts – prevailing in a four-man playoff in Dallas two Sundays ago despite blowing a five-shot lead in regulation – he wasn’t exactly on the Ryder Cup radar. But that hasn’t stopped his (or LIV’s bots’) campaigning.
“It’s always on your mind,” Reed said in Dallas when asked about what he needs to do to become a captain’s pick. “Anytime I get to represent our country, it means a lot to me. For me personally, I’m always thinking about trying to make every team.
“Obviously being a part of LIV where we don’t get points, it’s an uphill battle, but really for me it’s focused on playing some great golf and having a chance. It’s really going to come down to the Open Championship, having a chance to win there. You have a really good showing and play well there, then you just never know.
“It is looking like no matter what, it’s going to rely on a pick unless I go ahead and win the Open. Really the only way I can focus on the Ryder Cup is that one week, go out and give all I have and have a chance to win.”
Winning the Open wouldn’t be enough to move Reed into the top six who get automatic berths, but it could nudge him inside the top 12 and force the conversation. Winning majors immediately ahead of Ryder Cup selection doesn’t guarantee anyone a spot on the team (see John Daly after both the 1991 PGA and 1995 Open).
“Toxic” is certainly the right word. Reed hasn’t endeared himself to American teammates or potentially the most important advocate in the room that will choose the wildcard picks.
Reed ranks 36th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings based entirely on his performance in the five majors he’s played in the past two years. The bulk of those points come from a third-place finish in the Masters in April.
He’s No. 57 in the Official World Golf Ranking despite getting nothing from his LIV victory in Dallas. Among the 20 qualified OWGR-counting events that he’s played in, the majority of his points come from his third and T12 in the last two Masters, his victory in fall’s Hong Kong Open (in which he shot a 59) and runner-up in March’s International Series Macau event.
But the prospect of Reed being invited to the team room goes way beyond current form or any success he had on those international stages almost a decade ago. Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch, a native Irishman, said it well.
“So, if you’re Keegan Bradley and you have a deep bench on the team, the idea of introducing toxicity into the team room makes no sense whatsoever, and it doesn’t get much more toxic than team Reed in golf,” Lynch said last week on the Golf Channel. “The idea of introducing that toxicity into a team room when you don’t need it just seems so outlandish, but I do hope as a European it happens.”
“Toxic” is certainly the right word. Reed hasn’t endeared himself to American teammates or potentially the most important advocate in the room that will choose the wildcard picks.
Let’s say that Bradley (currently ninth in points and fresh off his own marquee win in a PGA Tour signature event) does decide that he’s too valuable as a player to the U.S. cause of winning back the Ryder Cup to be left off his roster. That would mean delegating some of his captain’s duties, and the most qualified leader by far of his five vice captains to grab the reins is Jim Furyk. That would be the same Furyk who was captain when Reed threw him under the bus after playing dismally in a losing cause in the 2018 Ryder Cup in France.
To refresh your memory on why Furyk and the Americans might not be so welcoming to Reed in the team room again, here’s a recap:
Despite being shushed during the losers’ press conference in Paris by Jordan Spieth, and Furyk fielding a question that was posed to Reed, the disgruntled American and reigning Masters champion at the time made sure to throw gas on the fire. After not getting the chance to self-immolate on the dais, he got on the phone with The New York Times to get his licks in regarding being sent out twice to lose in four-balls with Tiger Woods and sitting out both foursomes sessions before beating Tyrrell Hatton in a meaningless singles match long after the 17½-10½ wipeout was decided.
Reed said then he was “blindsided” by the “buddy system” pairings that didn’t reprise his once successful partnership with Spieth, who won three out of four matches with his close mate Justin Thomas instead.
Among his bulletin board comments to the Times: “The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me. … For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice. … Every day, I saw ‘Leave your egos at the door.’ They [the Europeans] do that better than us. … I’m still 3-0 in singles.”
That was pretty much the end of Reed’s “Captain America” reign, as he lost all three matches partnering with Webb Simpson in the 2019 Presidents Cup (not to mention his brother-in-law caddie getting into a ruckus with Australian fans) and hasn’t played for Team USA in any international events since.
The guy whose signature move was putting a finger to his lips to shush European fans should have zipped his own lips (not to mention his wife, Justine, who went on her own Twitter rampage criticizing the captain, Spieth, Woods and the media). An anonymous U.S. player told the New York Post that Reed “is so full of s—t,” and added “he has no clue how to play team golf. I saw firsthand how bad of a team player he was. Eleven players understood the concept of team golf and only one didn’t. Unfortunately, that one proved to be too costly for the team to overcome.”
That was pretty much the end of Reed’s “Captain America” reign, as he lost all three matches partnering with Webb Simpson in the 2019 Presidents Cup (not to mention his brother-in-law caddie getting into a ruckus with Australian fans) and hasn’t played for Team USA in any international events since.
The noise is sure to grow louder as the due date for setting Ryder Cup rosters nears. If Reed contends or wins at Royal Portrush, it will become deafening.
While it might be tempting for Bradley to cave in to the bot chorus and decide he can just plug Reed in with LIV mate Bryson DeChambeau and hope the outsiders mesh well enough to help the U.S. win back the Ryder Cup on home soil, would it be worth tampering with the delicate chemistry of the team room?
My guess is Bradley and his associates have already made up their minds and judged Reed’s presence to be more trouble than it’s worth. We’ll find out soon enough.