Patrick Reed has strongly defended LIV Golf following his return to the DP World Tour, and responded to Billy Horschel’s ‘hypocrite’ criticism over LIV golfers' schedule. Reed was one of the marquee names to make the Saudi-backed series switch earlier this summer.
Despite his new-found allegiances, the 2018 Masters champion made a return to the DP World Tour last week alongside 17 other defectors to compete at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Upon his return though, Reed and his fellow LIV members faced plenty of criticism.
No more so than off their former PGA Tour colleague Horschel, who labelled the defectors ‘hypocrites’ for moving to LIV to free up their schedule, but still wanting to return to the DP World Tour for their flagship event.
Reed addressed the criticism in an interview with The Times , where he defiantly backed his move to LIV, whilst also showing how the switch has in fact given him more free time with his schedule. He said: “I’ve played on two tours my whole life, my whole career. I've played on the PGA Tour and European Tour [DP World Tour]at the same time.
‘I don't see any difference between me playing the PGA Tour and here and playing on LIV and here. LIV only have 14 events next year, which means I'll be over here more. Guys are like, oh, you joined LIV to play a lesser schedule. Well, I'm a guy that's played 31 to 34 events a year.
“So if I played 14 on LIV and I played six here, that's 20 and 11 to 14 extra weeks I can spend time with my family. As a player, I hope the tours do the right thing and allow us to play but at the end of the day that's not our decision.”
Away from the controversies off the course, the American impressed on it whilst out in Surrey. Reed ensured that he came away with a top five finish, following an impressive eight-under-par 62 in Sunday’s final round to leave him at 14-under, three shots off eventual winner Shane Lowry.
