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Former Open champion Justin Leonard has criticised Patrick Reed for the way he handled the fallout from the USA’s thumping Ryder Cup defeat at Le Golf National last week.
Speaking on the latest Golf Channel podcast, Leonard – a veteran of three Ryder Cup sides – took Reed to task for going public with his criticism of teammate Jordan Spieth and captain Jim Furyk.
Reed, his wife and his mother-in-law have all offered withering assessments of where things went wrong for the US in France – Spoiler Alert: it’s not Reed’s fault, apparently – but Leonard believes that was the wrong approach.
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“I don’t remember anybody really burning bridges the way Patrick Reed has, the night after and the next day after the Ryder Cup,” Leonard said. “It’s a first for me.”
Leonard added that he expects Reed will need to qualify automatically or repair some of the damage he has done to merit a potential pick if he is to feature in the next Ryder Cup in two years’ time.
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“He’s got a lot of work to do,” Leonard said. “If he’s sitting on the fence of making a team, I don’t see how you pick him at this stage unless he really does a lot of work the next couple years, between now and Whistling Straits, to mend some of those relationships, and ask for forgiveness and be contrite and do all the right things.”
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