NASSAU, Bahamas — The fallout from the U.S. Ryder Cup defeat in France continues.
In his first comments on the lingering situation that came in the aftermath of the United States’ 17½-10½ defeat against Europe at Le Golf National on Sept. 30 in which he criticized American teammate Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed told the New York Post at the Hero World Challenge that he had not spoken to Spieth.
“Nope,” Reed told the newspaper. “He has my number.”
Reed was upset that the previously successful pairing of him and Spieth was broken up at the 2018 Ryder Cup back in September and was only played three times by captain Jim Furyk. He told the New York Times after the event that he believed the decisions were borne out of a “buddy system,” and he didn’t think it was “wise” to sit him twice out of five matches.
The reigning Masters champion, Reed went 1-2, losing twice with partner Tiger Woods, who is the 2019 U.S. Presidents Cup captain.
Reed and Spieth came into this year’s Ryder Cup sporting an impressive record together. The pair were 8-1-3 overall between Ryder and Presidents Cup play, and went 2-0-1 four years ago at Gleneagles and 2-1-1 two years ago at Hazeltine.
But the split to pair Spieth with Justin Thomas was not a big surprise to anyone but Reed. There had been rumblings in the lead-up to the event that Furyk would pair Spieth and Thomas, who were the Americans’ best team in France (3-1). Thomas said a few weeks ago that he was aware of the decision, as were other players.
“It was just a lack of communication,” Reed told the Post earlier this week. “It had nothing to do with hard feelings. Jordan’s an awesome player. Him and I seem to always play really well together, and there were some decisions that were made that I didn’t agree with that [the] captain thought were right.
“You had to look at the breakdown of the guy on the team and what was best for the entire team, not just one or two individuals. So you split up Jordan and I, right? Then you split up Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler, who have played great golf together [in the 2017 Presidents Cup] … groupings that had been proven successful in that format. So it was about the team, not one or two individuals.”
Reed likened his complaints to Phil Mickelson calling out captain Tom Watson and the PGA of America following the U.S. defeat at Gleneagles in 2014.
“He did it and got praised,” Reed said. “I did it and got destroyed. It all depends on who the person is, obviously.”
The difference was Mickelson did it in the post-tournament news conference — with Watson sitting a few seats away — with the motivation of a pushing a change in philosophy. But Mickelson, who has played on every U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team going back to 1994, was not universally praised. In many places, he was criticized for his takedown of Watson, as well as the setting.
Still, Mickelson’s comments led to a changes which now sees far more continuity between captains and assistants. Hence the call to have Woods, who was an assistant at the 2016 Ryder Cup and 2017 Presidents Cup, serve as captain for next year’s Presidents Cup.
Reed is 13th in the current Presidents Cup standings for 2019.