Patrick Reed's initial claim to have joined LIV Golf in order to spend more time with his family looks more questionable by the day with the American having entered his fifth tournament in September alone.
The 2018 Masters champion, long seen as a divisive figure in the sport having been the subject of multiple rules controversies, joined the Saudi-backed tour in June for a reported fee of around £50 million. He cited LIV's lesser schedule as his primary motivation for the move, arguing that the PGA Tour was wearing him down.
“It wears on you as an athlete, wears on you as a person, as a father, and this is for me, I feel like this is the best decision ever,” Reed said. “Now I can compete at the highest level, but also prepare and get ready for every single event and be able to be home, and even though I’ll be grinding at home getting ready, I’ll be able to spend time with the kids.”
But it hasn't taken long for the 32-year-old to contradict those claims. He's already hit out over accusations of hypocrisy, after entering the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this month despite his apparent firm allegiance to LIV.
"I don't see any difference between me playing the PGA Tour and here and playing on LIV and here," he argued. "LIV only have 14 events next year, which means I'll be over here more."
He's already played in four events this month, playing LIV series events in Boston and Chicago either side of his fifth placed finish in Wentworth. He's currently participating in the Cazoo Open in France, and next week will tee off in another DP World Tour event, the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
The reality is of course, that it has dawned on Reed, and other LIV rebels, that they will soon be in danger of missing the Majors given their are now world ranking points available with Greg Norman's venture. The players have this week written to the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) asking for past and future events in their series to be accredited with points.
Reed was ranked No 25 at the start of the year, but has since dropped to No 50 since his big money move. With the defectors banned from the PGA Tour, the DP events represent their only hope of remaining relevant in the world order.
The American made a bizarre claim about the the tour this week though, saying his DP World Tour login credentials "haven't worked for two weeks." He's also l aunched a lawsuit against the Golf Channel and analyst Brandel Chamblee, citing defamation of his character.
