1 reason Patrick Reed is playing in Hong Kong? ‘To teach kids about morals’

Patrick Reed, morality coach?

So says he. Reed, who’s had his share of run-ins with the rules over the years, notably said one of the reasons he was excited to play in this week’s Hong Kong Open was “to teach the kids about the morals and things that go along with golf.”

Reed’s comments came during his pre-tournament press conference for the Asian Tour event, and they were also shared by a story from LIV Golf, where Reed has played for the past two seasons, following a run on the PGA Tour. Below is the quote in full, and the LIV story labeled it “worldwide schedule.”

“It’s crucial,” Reed said. “I’ve always wanted to be a worldwide player, and as a part of the PGA Tour, mainly in the United States, it was hard to become the worldwide player that I wanted to be. So when I had the opportunity to be a part of the European Tour, that allowed me to touch some of these areas and regions.

“But really the biggest thing, it is why I joined LIV, was that it allowed me to venture out and not only to play around the world, but also to have a schedule to come play events like this on the International Series.

“I’m excited to come to new places and new venues, especially to a place over here that I’ve played before here in Hong Kong. It is a beautiful area, I feel like a lot of people want to play golf, but they also want to see the top players in the world. Rather than just see them on TV, they want to see that drive and see them in person, and being there is something special for them.

“So, to come over and play always means a lot to me. I’ve always felt like this is an area that we all can help to grow not just the game of golf, but also to teach the kids about the morals and things that go along with golf. It is all you out there. We can teach them the drive and motivation needed to get up in the morning, get started, get working and taking ownership and hard work to do things. And then because of that, I feel like there’s a lot of things that people can learn about it. Why not come to an area that really supports or really loves golf?”

Notably, Reed has had brushes with the rules in the past. 

In 2019, at the Hero World Challenge, he was penalized two strokes after brushing sand behind his ball from within a bunker, though he denied any wrongdoing. In 2021, at the Farmers Insurance Open, Reed had an exchange with an official over embedded-ball relief, and while he was given it, replays showed that his ball did not immediately plug upon turf contact. In January, at the Dubai Desert Classic, Reed claimed he could see his ball stuck in a tree, though replays appeared to show it was in another. Reed has also been accused of cheating in college, which he has denied. 

To his credit, Reed has bounced back. A few months after the Hero incident, he won the WGC-Mexico Championship. He won the 2021 Farmers. He finished second in Dubai. Overall, Reed has won nine PGA Tour tournaments, including the 2018 Masters.

“The good thing is I know who I am,” Reed told Golf Digest’s John Huggan afterward at Dubai. “All I can do is focus on my golf and focus on me.”

Also this week, Reed became one of the first players to offer comment on the PGA Tour’s decision to allow its players to play in the upcoming LIV Promotions event. The move was surprising, considering the sides have been at odds for two seasons, though LIV’s backer, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, is in negotiations with the Tour on a funding deal. 

Reed the Tour’s decision was “a step in the right direction.”

“But it really all depends on what happens after that,” he continued. “So if one of the guys come over and they get onto LIV because they finished inside of the top three, do they get suspended right away, immediately, or do they want to play on both? So we’ll just wait and see because we don’t know how it’s all going to turn out. We will have to wait and see what they decide to do at that point.

“I’m going to be optimistic and hope that it means that everyone’s going to be getting along, and we’re going to be able to figure this all out. But I don’t really know much about it. It’s all hypothetical and a guessing game.”

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.