After two days of heckling that has resulted in ill will at the Presidents Cup, Patrick Reed has broken through with a singles victory to put the US team in the lead for the first time during the tournament.
Reed ended a week from hell at Royal Melbourne with an emphatic four and two victory over the Internationals’ CT Pan, which was his first win from four matches, and gave his team a 11-10 lead.
Embroiled in a cheating scandal leading into the Cup, the world No.12 was targeted by the bulging galleries after he was strongly criticised by Australian golfers Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman.
He said the best way to quieten the fans was to make birdies.
“You make birdies, you don’t hear much,” Reed said.
If you come out storming, the crowd’s pretty quiet and I was able to do that today, kind of get going, and really silence the crowd a little bit.”
On Saturday evening Internationals captain Ernie Els responded to Tiger Woods’ complaints about the crowd heckling Reed.
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Reed was forced to play the final singles session without his regular caddie Kessler Karain, who was banned by the PGA after getting into a scuffle with a heckling spectator during Saturday’s play.
Reed’s swing coach Kevin Kirk Gregory stepped in with the 2018 Masters champion blasting Pan off the course in the front nine.
Reed had five birdies from the first seven holes to race to a six up lead, before the Chinese Taipei world No.76 finally got on the scoreboard.
Pan stopped the rot, claiming the next three holes to peg the lead back to three.
A birdie by Pan on the 13th gave him a sniff before Reed won the 15ht and 16th to seal the win.
Reed said the week had been a “tough” experience but he tried to shut out the haters and focus on his golf.
“The biggest thing is just to continue grinding and not let the crowds or other people get in the way of what you’re trying to do, and that’s play golf,” he said.
“The past couple of days were tough and today still wasn’t easy.”
-AAP
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