Back in 2019, Patrick Reed was participating in the Hero World Challenge. The tournament is annually hosted by the 15-time Major champion Tiger Woods. All proceedings from the event go to the Tiger Woods Foundation.
When Reed was getting ready to play his third shot on the par-5 11th hole during the third round at Albany, his ball was in a depression in the sand and he was in a waste bunker. Reed was caught on cameras hitting the ball twice in practice swings while shifting sand out from under it.
While struggling to get the ball out of the bunker, Reed ended up receiving a two-stroke penalty from the officials. The 2019 Masters winner understandably defended himself against the officials for the penalty.
Reed was then called to watch the replay before being imposed the penalty. However, he asked the officials to watch another angle of the shot that proved Reed’s innocence. But the replay was satisfactory enough for the officials to penalize the golfer.
Reed said, “I wish [the cameras] were actually directly on the side of me because it was in a pretty good footprint … and I felt like my club was that far behind the ball when I was actually taking the practice stroke, which I felt like I was taking it up. And it was … obviously, it was hitting a little sand.”
The 32-year-old further added how the golf club would eventually touch the sand no matter what during the practice swings. He then said, “Whenever they brought it up to me and I saw it, it definitely did drag some of the sand. Because of that, it’s considered a two-stroke penalty.”
Despite Patrick Reed’s defending statements, the golfer was still penalized. As per the rule book, Reed did break the penalty. However, the golfer states it is a clear misunderstanding of the officials. Nonetheless, Reed managed to finish the tournament in the third position despite the indecent third round.