PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Patrick Reed wasn't apologizing or even feeling bad about snapping a golf club over his knee Friday, saying the response to a poor shot on the 18th hole during the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach was therapeutic.
The 2018 Masters champion, who has struggled for much of this year, was the subject of one of the tournament's video highlights, snapping his wedge in two pieces over his right knee after flubbing a chip shot near the 18th green -- then casually tossing it near his bag before removing the flagstick on his own.
After finishing his third round Saturday -- Reed had made double-bogey 7 on the 18th to make the 36-hole cut on the number -- he explained his reasoning.
"At the end of the day, I got my anger out. I didn't do anything to the golf course, I didn't say obscenities or anything like that,'' Reed said. "It was a split second, I moved on and did my business, hit my next golf shot.''
Reed reasoned that it wasn't egregious, such as what happened with Sergio Garcia earlier this year, when he was disqualified because he had damaged a few greens in anger with his putter. He also referenced other players.
"You have Sergio with what he did on the greens -- I have seen multiple guys tear up golf courses and slam clubs," he said. "Rory [McIlroy] threw his club in the water on the [eighth hole] at Doral [in 2015]. Lucas Bjerregaard sent his driver into the water here [on Thursday]. It happens.
"Things like that probably shouldn't happen, but as long as you respect the golf course and aren't doing anything to damage it or the guys you are playing with ... I'd rather let it out than keep it in.
"To me it is no big deal. It was comical watching it afterwards. It wasn't comical hitting poor wedge shot after poor wedge shot, especially when I pride myself on my wedge game. To miss the green from 20 yards, then advance the ball 3 inches from 6 feet off the green, is not normally how my short game is. That's what a U.S. Open and rough like this will do to you."
Reed does face a possible fine from the PGA Tour.
His issues occurred on the 18th hole Friday after his 6-iron approach from the rough went barely 100 yards. From there, he dumped his third shot in a bunker, hit the next one over the green, then flubbed a chip shot with a 61-degree wedge. That is when the damage was inflicted on the club.
"Usually it gets me out of jail,'' Reed said. "It kept me in jail on that one.''
Reed used a 57-degree wedge for his sixth shot, then rolled in the putt for a double-bogey 7.