Whatever credibility left in Patrick Reed‘s comments to the New York Times—where he said he was ‘blindsided’ by not being paired with Jordan Spieth at the Ryder Cup—took another hit when Justin Thomas said Wednesday that he knew he’d be paired with Spieth weeks before the competition.
“That was something that had obviously been talked about in advance,” Thomas told reporters at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, where he’s playing this week at the site of his first PGA Tour victory. “But all I was worried about, what I knew, that I was going to play with Jordan and we were worrying about taking care of our point and taking care of our match.”
Thomas’s comments corroborate captain Jim Furyk‘s account of the pairing process. Furyk told Golf Channel that the decision to split up Reed and Spieth, who had had great success together in past team competitions, was made well in advance of the Ryder Cup and insinuated that both Spieth and Reed were aware of it.
Spieth also seemed to contradict Reed, saying at the post-match press conference that there were no surprises in Furyk’s pairing decisions.
The Americans were defeated 17.5-10.5 by Team Europe at Le Golf National outside Paris, marking Europe’s ninth victory in the last 12 Ryder Cups and sixth straigth on European soil. Thomas and Spieth went 2-1 together as teammates, while Reed lost both his matches playing alongside Tiger Woods.
On Sunday night after the Cup was clinched, Reed told the Times via a phone interview, “The issue’s obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me,” Reed said, adding, “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.”
He also took issue with Furyk’s decision to sit him during the Friday and Saturday afternoon foursomes sessions.
“For somebody as successful in the Ryder Cup as I am, I don’t think it’s smart to sit me twice,” Reed said.
Reed, winner of last year’s Masters, won his Sunday singles match 3 and 2 over Tyrrell Hatton.
The first rebuff of Reed’s post-loss comments were made by an anonymous team member, who told the New York Post that Reed “is so full of s—. Blinsided, my a–. He begged to play with Tiger.”
Reed hasn’t been the only source of controversy after the embarassing loss for the favored Americans. Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson reportedly had to be separated at a post-match party. Koepka has denied an altercation occurred twice, but Furyk said in his Golf Channel interview that a “brief” altercation took place.
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