Patrick Reed hits out at “insulting” Rory McIlroy

Former Masters champion Patrick Reed has hit out at Rory McIlroy, branding the Northern Irishman “hypocritical” over his criticism of players who have joined LIV Golf.

In an interview with The Times, Reed defended his right to join the controversial Saudi-funded start-up and, at the same time, attempt to continue to play on the DP World Tour.

The American was one of 18 LIV golfers who played in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last week, a move which drew criticism from a number of other players, McIlroy amongst them.

The four-time major champion has been a long-standing and vocal critic of LIV Golf, insisting that the so-called ‘rebel alliance’ shouldn’t be allowed to straddle both tours.

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According to Reed, McIlroy is out of order.

“I feel like [Rory] making those types of comments is insulting,” he said. “Let’s be honest, I’ve [played the DP World Tour] more consistently than some of the Europeans on the PGA Tour.”

The Texan has a point. He has made 92 career starts on the DP World Tour – albeit that number is inflated somewhat by the inclusion of majors and WGCs.

Even so, he has shown a willingness to support the former European Tour that many of his compatriots have not.

Indeed, as recently as 2019, he made 15 appearances on the circuit, including the Hong Kong Open, Porsche European Open, KLM Open, the Turkish Airlines Open and Wentworth.

He added: “These other guys sitting there and talking saying you can’t play two tours, that’s hypocritical as ever, these guys are playing the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

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“I was able to talk to a bunch of DP World Tour players [on Tuesday] and not a single one of them had any issue with me being here because of the support I’ve shown this tour throughout my career, throughout Covid and at smaller events as well as big events.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Reed added that his daughter has been bullied at nursery because of allegations that he is a “cheat”.

Last month, the 32-year-old filed a $750m defamation suit against the Golf Channel and one of its analysts, Brandel Chamblee, over what he has called “a pattern and practice of defaming… misreporting information with falsity and/or reckless disregard for the truth”.