Patrick Reed’s caddie will no longer be carrying the bag for his golfer at the Presidents Cup, after he got in an altercation with a fan on Saturday.
The PGA Tour made the punishment official on Saturday after a dual session.
According to ESPN:
Kessler Karain, who is the brother of Reed’s wife, Justine, went into the crowd after Reed and partner Webb Simpson lost their four-ball match 5 and 3 to Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan.
In a statement to ESPN’s Michael Collins, Karain admitted to shoving a fan, who he said was just a few feet away from Reed and him as they were riding a cart and told the U.S. player, ‘You f—ing suck.’
Karain went on to defend his actions by referencing his role as a caddie.
“As a caddie, one of your jobs is to protect your player. And unlike several other sports, in golf fans can get pretty close to Athletes,” Karain said in his statement. “We have been known for having fun with some good banter, but after hearing several fans in Australia for 3 days some had taken it too far, I had enough. And this gentleman was one of them.
“I got off the cart and shoved him, said a couple things, probably a few expletives. Security came and I got back in [the] cart and left. I don’t think there’s one caddie I know that could blame me.”
Reed has faced criticism in-person and online, since he was recently assessed a two-stroke penalty at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Reed was given the penalty after it was determined that he improved his lie or line of play as he played a ball from a sandy waste area.
“Video showed Reed moving sand in his backswing while taking practice swings,” ESPN reported. “He did it twice, the video went viral and the seven-time PGA Tour winner and 2018 Masters champion has faced accusations of cheating since.”
For Reed’s part, he believes the cheating accusations are unfair.
“It’s not the right word to use,” Reed said. “At the end of the day, if you do something unintentionally that breaks the rules, it’s not considered cheating, but I wasn’t intentionally trying to improve a lie or anything like that. If I was, it would have been a really good lie and I would have hit it really close.”
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