‘The ball is gone’: Patrick Reed in controversy over new rules at the Farmers Insurance Open | Sport

Patrick Reed was involved in another controversy over rules on Saturday at the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines.

On par four 10th, Reed landed a 190 yard kick from a bunker with a TV replay showing the ball bouncing once before settling into the rough. Believing that the ball did not bounce, Reed took it to see if it fit before a rules officer arrived. Reed told the officer that no one in his group, as well as a close volunteer, saw him bounce.

Reed received a free drop and saved the pair. He cheated four of the next holes before moving on to No 18 for two below 70 and a part of the lead with Ortiz 10 below. Ortiz had a 66 on the South Course.

In December 2019, at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Reed was penalized with two strokes for appearing to deliberately improve his lie in a bunker.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, obviously, but at the end of the day, when you finish a round and the head of the rules comes to you and has the video and shows everything that happened to the whole group and says that you did it perfectly, you did it exactly the right way, the protocols you did were right, at that point, you know, I feel good about it, ”said Reed after Saturday’s round.

“The ball just disappeared. None of us saw him bounce, ”said Reed, adding that a close volunteer told him he didn’t bounce. “I looked at my group and said, ‘Guys, she didn’t see it bounce either, so I’m going to score this ball and see if it fits’.

“As soon as I scored it, the first thing I wanted to do was make sure to take the ball out of my hand, because you don’t want to clean it or anything, because you don’t know if it’s still embedded. When I put my finger there and felt that I had broken the ground, the first thing you do is call the rules official. … The rules officer said: ‘Yes, this ball broke the plane.’ “

The ground was soft from rain during Thursday night and during the second round on Friday, when the game was suspended for almost an hour because of a storm.

“At this point, we follow what the rules officer said and also what the volunteers and what we see,” said Reed. “When we’re out there, we can’t see everything and when that happens, you have to follow what the volunteers say and what the rules officials say and when everything is pushing and pushing, we feel like we did the right thing and the rules said we act perfectly ”.

PGA Tour rules officer Ken Tackett said Reed “did all the things we asked a player to do. It is obviously difficult and you start to doubt when you see the video; mild conditions, there are many variables out there. “

The tournament ends on Sunday.