Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed bury the hatchet after Ryder Cup feud

For the first time since Reed had blamed Spieth for the end of their successful Ryder Cup partnership, the duo were paired together for a tournament round

Phil Casey
Sunday 27 January 2019 06:22 EST
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Europe celebrate rousing victory in the 2018 Ryder Cup

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Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed played to the cameras as they attempted to publicly put any animosity behind them during the Farmers Insurance Open.

For the first time since Reed had blamed Spieth for the end of their successful Ryder Cup partnership, the duo were paired together for a tournament round during day three at Torrey Pines.

Masters champion Reed shot 69 and three-time major winner Spieth a 72, but it was their pre-round hug and handshake which garnered the most attention.

"Yeah, I laughed. I think he did, too," Spieth said after the round. "It was more sarcasm towards y'all (media). We've seen each other plenty of times at Sony (Open in Hawaii) and here and everything's been the way it normally is.

"We knew the cameras were on and we knew people were interested in that, so I just thought it would be kind of funny."

Reed and Spieth had won four and halved two of their seven Ryder Cup matches together at Gleneagles in 2014 and Hazeltine in 2016, but Reed was twice paired with Tiger Woods and Spieth played four matches with Justin Thomas in last year's heavy defeat in Paris.

That was the subject of the final question of the American team's press conference on Sunday evening, with Spieth answering diplomatically: "We were totally involved in every decision that was made. Jim allowed it to be a player-friendly environment."

However, in an interview conducted an hour later with the New York Times, Reed said: "The issue's obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me. I don't have any issue with Jordan. When it comes right down to it, I don't care if I like the person I'm paired with or if the person likes me as long as it works and it sets up the team for success.

"He and I know how to make each other better. We know how to get the job done."

Reed also said in December that Spieth "has my number" and that the pair had not talked, but on Saturday said: "Literally when we got off the plane it was old news and we all moved on from there.

"I mean, it's really nothing. Jordan and I, we've moved on. We're now just out here trying to play some good golf and trying to feed off of each other as well as just trying to go out and shoot low numbers."

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