THE BEST PEOPLE! Trump is latching on to Patrick Reed ??? (Masters Champ yesterday)

[underpants]

I know it's the NY Post. All day stuff has been coming out about this guy.

This article doesn't mention that he has nothing to do with his parents (as usual his dad was a big force in his golfing life) who haven't been allowed to see their grandkids. It's Reed, his wife, two kids and they are aligned with her folks. Reed's parents live 3 miles from Augusta but had to watch it on TV. Oh and Reed saw his father at the 2014 US Open and had him removed from the event.

https://nypost.com/2018/04/09/the-cheating-allegations-that-started-the-patrick-reed-backlash/

In the book “Slaying the Tiger: A Year Inside the Ropes on the New PGA Tour,” by Shane Ryan, Reed’s alleged travails at Georgia are detailed.

It all began when he was a freshman, at a qualifying round before a tournament. He hit a ball deep into the rough; there was another ball closer to the fairway. According to sources Ryan spoke to, Reed prepared to hit the other ball when a few teammates confronted him. Reed pleaded ignorance, but they didn’t buy it. Reed has been asked about it since and has strongly denied cheating, yet Jason Payne, an assistant golf coach at Georgia while Reed was there, confirmed the teammates’ story.

There were also allegations of theft, with items and $400 cash going missing from the locker room. Teammates blamed Reed, who denied it.

On the Tour, Reed’s reputation for abrasiveness and cockiness continued. During the 2014 Ryder Cup, he put his finger to his mouth and shushed the European crowd. In November 2014, he was heard uttering a gay slur after a missing a putt in the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, for which he apologized.

[Awsi Dooger]

1. I rooted for Patrick Reed yesterday

I knew all about that stuff. It has been covered exhaustively on the major golf forums.

There isn't much to choose from on the PGA Tour. Virtually all of them are hard right wingers. At least Reed doesn't seem to be the worst of the worst like Paul Azinger or Tom Lehman or Fred Funk or Tom Watson, or even Jack Nicklaus.

I knew darn well Trump would be thrilled by Reed's victory. Reed won at Doral several years ago for his breakout professional victory. I was there every round. Trump followed Reed around in a golf cart for most of the back nine on Sunday. Melania and Baron were in the same cart, looking miserable and as if they would prefer to be anywhere else.

The Ryder Cup stuff is hardly a negative. I have no idea how that makes it into an article trying to condemn Reed. He is legendary for his guts and patriotism and clutch putting in the Ryder Cup. The American team needed someone like that, after a string of losses and to offset European bulldog types like Ian Poulter.

The opposing European players loved that shush incident. They became close friends with Reed as a result. There are many pictures of them alongside Reed with all of them holding fingers to their mouth. The European fans loved it as well, after initially being shocked. Reed is a big favorite in Europe because of his stated desire to be a worldwide player and not strictly American based. He goes to Europe each year and plays several of their big event on the European Tour, even though it's smack in the middle of the PGA schedule.

[underpants]

2. Good points.

He was killer in the Ryder Cup.

[PJMcK]

3. "There isn't much to choose from on the PGA Tour"

Truth.

Let's face it: Most golfers who have the skill and the financial resources to make it to the Tour, let alone succeed on it, come from country club money.

Look, I know that's a rather broad brush stroke, but the fact is, most of the pros vote Republican. Golf Digest did an informal survey of Tour players in 2012 (I think) and it was something like 85% Romney/15% Obama.

I'm told by people who I trust that the ratio is similar on the LPGA Tour.

Ultimately, who cares? I've never looked to sports stars to be my moral or social guides. I like golf because of its difficulty, self-regulating honesty (Hey, Trump! You're not supposed to cheat!), and the beauty of the walk across nature.

Patrick Reed played four very good rounds and deserves his win.

[Awsi Dooger]

4. I don't think it's as lopsided on the LPGA

More foreigners, for one thing. Several of them have made anti-Trump comments, like Suzann Petersen.

Brittany Lincicome took some heat last year when she said that she wanted Trump to stay away from the US Open, even though it was played on his course.

I attend two LPGA events per year, on average. I will say that the pro-Trump crowd on that tour is even less reluctant to speak about it than on the PGA. I overheard Gerina Piller and her husband Martin Piller -- who bounces between the PGA and Web.com tour -- make the most vile comments imaginable about Colin Kaepernick after a round in Naples during the CME Tour Championship.

Others like Lexi Thompson and Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis are big Trump supporters as well, and open about it.

[PJMcK]

6. My comments were meant about the Americans

Of course, as you point out, foreigners have different priorities than U.S. politics.

However, the American women on the LPGA Tour reflect their counterparts on the Men's Tour. As you point out, some of the biggest LPGA stars support Trump: Thompson, Creamer (breaks my heart!), Gulbis (doesn't break my heart). Piller is the worst.

[spanone]

5. Reed won fair and square yesterday....wasn't my guy but he beat the others.

trump's tweet was to promote DORAL a golf course he owns