The true identity behind an infamous pro-Patrick Reed Twitter account is closer to being solved after the controversial golf star was linked to the user at an AFL game on Sunday.
Reed was attending Collingwood vs St Kilda at Adelaide Oval as he prepared for LIV Golf’s next event at the Grange Golf Club this weekend.
It was during the match that a picture was posted by the account @useGolfFacts from the row of seats just in-front of Reed, who was sitting with Dustin Johnson and SA premier Peter Malinauskas.
The picture might seem innocent enough at first glance, but when digging deeper it reveals a potentially damning link to Reed’s wife, Justine, who has long been rumoured as the account’s owner.
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The pair previously caused a storm on social media in 2018 when the Reeds publicly complained about the quality of free seats given by the PGA Tour to a Red Sox game.
“I love how you put my wife, sister in law and myself in the line drive section. We paid $650 to upgrade our seats and ended up in the same section as the rest of the @PGATOUR! #frontrow,” Reed tweeted at the time.
Needless to say, when Reed was then pictured at the AFL game on the weekend, it opened the American up to jokes from observers.
No Laying Up’s Tron Carter shared an image of Reed sitting alone in the stands, and questioned whether @useGolfFACTS “didn’t attend due to the quality of the seats provided!”
That tweet prompted a response from the account and, although it wasn’t an iron-clad admission, it appeared to confirm the user as Reed’s wife — or at least someone within his inner circle.
“These look like nice seats to me!” the account tweeted from within the group, where Reed was now with his LIV entourage.
Reed’s wife has been heavily linked to the account having been outspoken on social media, particularly in response to criticism of her husband, before deleting all her Tweets one day.
In 2018, Reed was part of an unsuccessful partnership with Tiger Woods at the Ryder Cup after it was rumoured that Jordan Spieth refused to play with his fellow Masters champion.
Criticised on Twitter by Jay Coffin, Justine clapped back: “Wow. And you’re the Editor of Golf Channel. Doesn’t surprise me.
“(Golf Channel) are the ones that are unspeakably awful. Not even trying to hide their bias, their prejudice and their hatred. Journalistically disqualified. Have been for a long time. Now others can see it clearly as well.”
As for Reed himself, he was one of the PGA Tour’s most hated players until he jumped ship last year to join LIV Golf on a big-money deal.
While on the PGA Tour, he was at the centre of multiple cheating controversies, including improving his lie illegally in a bunker, and claiming a ball was embedded in mud when it had clearly bounced.
After the latter incident, Reed replied to a Twitter thread saying: “RORY MCILROY @McIlroyRory DID THE SAME THING TODAY ON HOLE 18! AND DIDN’T EVEN CALL A RULES OFFICIAL OVER TO DEEM THE BALL EMBEDDED. END OF STORY.”
A very similar message had earlier been sent by @useGolfFacts a total of 16 times in response to users taking aim at Reed.
