Patrick Reed deserves a hero’s welcome and a red-carpet return to the PGA Tour following his shock LIV exit

Patrick Reed makes a golf tournament infinitely more interesting. You know it, and I know it.

Whatever you make of his character and behaviour during his distinguished career, there has never been a doubt about his quality, as he showed by winning in Dubai last month and Qatar this month.

Things have always lingered in the background, though.

Shane Ryan documented the controversy that surrounded Reed’s college career in his book ‘Slaying the Tiger: A Year Inside the Ropes on the New PGA Tour’.

Sources told Ryan that when he was a freshman at the University of Georgia, playing in a pre-event qualifier, Reed hit a ball into rough. But, he went to hit his next shot with a ball that was closer to the fairway. He was confronted, but maintained innocence. The 2018 Masters champion has since denied wrongdoing.

There were also rather remarkable allegations of theft sent his way when some items and $400 in cash went missing from a locker room. Again, Reed denied involvement. He left Georgia for Augusta State College after a year, having been dismissed for alcohol violations, which he has admitted to.

It is alleged that he was generally unpopular in college. One of Ryan’s stories said that ahead of the last round of his college career in the national championship, his own Augusta teammates said to his opponent, Harris English: ‘We want to win the national title, but we hope you kick the shit out of Patrick Reed.’

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Reed led Augusta State to two NCAA Division I titles, and here lies the contrast. His game has always been immensely appreciated and widely respected, but he himself seems to be questioned at every turn.

Last April, I was standing by the first tee box at Augusta National during the final round of the Masters, waiting to see Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau tee off in the last group. Before them were Reed and Corey Conners, and before each player hits, a Green Jacket announces their name to the patrons, followed by applause.

On paper, an Augusta State alumnus and former Masters champion would expect a warm welcome. My memory still tells me that there was a muted and short clap.

After that, though, he nearly went and won the Masters again. He holed out from the fairway on the 17th for an eagle, a frankly astonishing thing while in contention on Sunday. If he hadn’t turned a super birdie into an unthinkable bogey on the par-5 13th about 45 minutes earlier, we could’ve been looking at Reed upsetting McIlroy’s grand slam party.

There is a significant list of reasons why Reed grew into such a polarising figure, from the suspicions around his wife Justine once running a pro-Reed Twitter account (now X) called @useGolfFACTS, to filing legal action worth $750 million against Golf Channel and Gannett.

Controversies with the rules of golf have never gone away, too. After the third round of the 2019 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Reed was given a two-stroke penalty after footage appeared to show him putting his club behind his ball in a sandy waste area, improving his lie and path to the ball.

You might imagine what the cynics were claiming.

His past, as well as his major-winning credentials, contributed to why LIV Golf signed him in 2022. He has always been the pantomime villain, and he never played the part more perfectly than when he put his finger to his lips and silenced the European crowd at Gleneagles on his Ryder Cup debut for America in 2014, while his team were on its way to a beating.

Sports fans tuned in to watch Floyd Mayweather because he was brilliant, but he aggravated us, too. Love him or hate him (in a sporting sense), you wanted to see if this was finally the time that Floyd got knocked out.

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There’s no violence in golf, but like Floyd, Reed is an endlessly fascinating figure, and when he was in contention to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters this year, the tournaments were infinitely more captivating, whether you wanted him to throw it away or win.

I was out of the house during each final round, but I was checking my phone for updates. With the greatest of respect to the likes of Andy Sullivan, Julien Guerrier and Jayden Schaper, I wouldn’t have bothered taking my phone out with me if it were left to them. Reed attracted LIV with his box office presence.

As an honorary life member of the DP World Tour, a circuit which he has supported for several years now, Reed will mostly ply his trade here, after leaving LIV Golf, until he can play in PGA Tour events towards the end of 2026. He should then return as a full member of the US rota in 2027.

These are worrying times for LIV.

It might go on to live a long and happy life, but who knows in what form and who knows what players will stick around. Brooks Koepka was allowed straight back to the PGA Tour under a heavy financial penalty after qualifying for the PGA Tour’s new returning member programme.

But similar to the inevitability of players joining LIV once the first rumour left the mill, it seems the moment a player shows any sign of doubt about their LIV career, the same thing happens, just the other way.

Even when verbally committing their futures to LIV, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau’s tone didn’t exactly chime with assurance. Now, Reed has left, and to use the phrase I’ve seen written in many corners of the golf media sphere, the dominoes seem to be falling.

But whether the PGA Tour’s membership or golf fans like him or not, the return of Reed will be an almighty boost for the PGA Tour, and has already been a huge shot in the arm for the DP World Tour.

When I think of similarly divisive figures in the game from recent years, I think of Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau. I get a strange yet copious amount of satisfaction watching these guys make birdies and surge into contention, especially at majors.

It doesn’t matter if you cheer for Patrick Reed or not, we should welcome him back to the PGA Tour with open arms.

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