LIV Golf star Patrick Reed revealed his daughter was bullied at nursery as people labeled the former Masters champion a ‘cheater’.
Back in June, it was announced that Reed had joined LIV Golf and resigned from the PGA Tour. The lucrative LIV Golf series is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and it has divided golf, leaving the PGA and DP World Tours fractured after the new series poached some of the sports biggest names.
The controversial series - bankrolled by the Saudi regime - continues to divide golf and shake up the sport. Several of the world’s most prominent players have decided to switch to LIV Golf, including the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
However, Reed’s reputation was already somewhat damaged due to a number of controversies across his career dating back to days in college golf at UGA and Augusta State. It came to a head at the 2019 Hero World Challenge when Reed - who was leading the tournament - twice moved sand behind his ball in order to improve his lie.
Reed claimed he had not noticed the movement and cited his angle compared to that of the camera's for his lack of realisation. He was later penalised two strokes for improving his lie and the American received heavy criticism for his actions and initial response from fans, players and commentators alike.
However, Reed has revealed such criticism took a toll when his daughter Windsor-Wells was four years of age. She returned from nursery visibly upset and it dawned on the golf star that she was being bullied because of his reputation.
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“Do you know how hard that hits you as a father?” Reed told The Times . “She was getting bullied because of me, all because of what’s written on a piece of paper, and it’s fake and fictitious and wrong. I can handle a lot of things, but that’s the lowest blow you can get.”
He added: “The narrative is ‘he’s a horrendous person, he’s a cheater, a liar and a thief’. Now, I’m a murderer and everything else on God’s green earth and that’s not OK, because it’s not who I am.”
Reed was part of the 4 Aces team which triumphed in the fourth event of the LIV Golf series, which took place in Boston. Dustin Johnson won the singles event to earn a £3.37million payout - substantially more than the £2.08m awarded to Cameron Smith for winning the coveted Open title.
