It was something of a strange scene as the leading group took to the first tee on Masters Sunday.
Given the hooting, hollering patriotism of our friends on the other side of the Atlantic, the idea of those all-American fans - sorry, patrons - spurning their own flag bearer in favour of Rory McIlroy will probably have Trump building a wall round Augusta on the grounds of treason.
Talk about trying to fling a star spangled spanner into the works of Patrick Reed.
Read more: Nick Rodger: Masters moments leave plenty of food for thought
The 27-year-old is made of sterner stuff, of course. “I walked up to the first tee and had a really welcoming cheer from the fans but then when Rory walked up to the tee, his cheer was a little louder,” reflected the new green jacket winner, who was quickly praised for his efforts on social media by the aforementioned President of the USA.
“But that’s another thing that just kind of played into my hands. Not only did it fuel my fire a little bit, but also, it just takes the pressure off of me and adds it back to him.
“I think that’s the biggest thing going into a Sunday, especially trying to win, for me trying to win my first; for him, trying to win the career grand slam, it’s who is going to handle the pressure and who is going to have more pressure on them.”
In this pressure-cooker atmosphere, it was McIlroy who appeared to crack with a disappointingly pedestrian display pock-marked by some highly suspect putting.
Meanwhile, the pulsating final day charges of Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, which were so rampaging at times you thought they were actually on horseback, piled the pressure on Reed but he refused to waver and dealt with a series of menacing advances with determined, jaw-jutting defiance.
No sooner had Reed put the tin lid on his maiden major conquest, his past was being delved into with all the page-flicking relish of a researcher at the Society of Genealogists.
Read more: Nick Rodger: Masters moments leave plenty of food for thought
It’s not news to those in the golf scene that the brash, polarising figure of Reed is hardly at the top of the order of merit in the popularity stakes. His back story has featured plenty of ventures from the straight and narrow, whether it’s been claims of cheating and stealing from team-mates to him making arrogant statements that have riled others.
In the tumult of an epic Masters triumph, all of this gets amplified and magnified to staggering levels. In the thump-a-second world of instant reaction, damning judgement and sneering assessment that abounds on a variety of social media platforms, Reed has taken plenty of pelters.
The disconnect with his family – his sister once described him as a “selfish, horrible stranger” while he has been estranged from his mother and father for several years – has added an uncomfortable footnote to the biggest win of his career. His parents live in the Augusta area but they were not there on Sunday.
Asked in his post-Masters press conference if his win was bittersweet because he would not be sharing it with his parents and sister, Reed responded with the straightest of straight bats. “I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments,” he said. The clinical nature of the answer appears somewhat sad but who are we to judge the ins and outs of complex personal matters?
Strong in character and mind, as illustrated by his final round performance on an Augusta course that has mangled the minds of some of the best down the years, Reed now has the major victory to back up his confident posturings from a couple of years ago when he declared that he was a “top five player in the world.”
Read more: Nick Rodger: Masters moments leave plenty of food for thought
After his win on Sunday night, Reed is still not a top five player – the updated world rankings has him at No 11 – but his success was a significant statement of intent on a course where he had been a total of 27-over for his first four Masters appearances and had never broken 70 until an opening 69 last Thursday.
“I don’t ever regret anything I really say,” Reed said. “I stand by my comments. I feel like I’ve played some golf that I need to play in order to get to where I want to be, and that’s to be the best golfer in the world.
“The way you’re going to do that is perform in these big events and to win these big events.”
Given his colourful background, it would be inappropriate to describe Sunday as Saint Patrick’s Day. Whatever you want to call it, though, Reed had his day in the sun.
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