After the “going gate” now the “tree gate” between McIlroy and Reid: TV footage shows that the golf ball did not disappear at all into the palm tree shown by Reed | More sports

The old fox never loses its tricks. At the Dubai Desert Classic, 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reid (32) had a very strong Sunday and cut a gap to leader Rory McIlroy (33). Until he missed the opening match on the 17th hole at Jumeirah Golf Course. slingshot in a tree. Just: in what tree? With the aid of binoculars handed to him by the referee, Reed calculated, in the manner best suited to him. He also stated that he always marks his golf balls, with an arrow he draws at the end of the line that represents his Pro V1 cuts. “That way the referee and I can see it’s my ball,” Reid said.

It just wasn’t obvious to everyone, especially when NBC brought the pictures up and played them in slow motion. “You can clearly see that the ball disappears into the first tree, not the far left closest to the green. If the curve of the ball is supposed to be much higher,” analyst Brundle Chambly said. In Reed’s favour, there were too many balls to be seen in The particular palm tree he pointed to, from many school dropouts in the past.

The fact that Reed could only measure up to McIlroy made the great story sportingly relevant, too. After all, the top two are at loggerheads, after Reed left the PGA Tour last year, along with Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, among others, for the more lucrative LIV Golf tour, with financial backing from Saudi Arabia. There is where McIlroy and Tiger Woods, among others, have remained loyal to the PGA.

In August, 11 LIV golfers filed a federal lawsuit against the PGA Tour after it suspended all “dissenters.” Reid is not part of those eleven, but has sued The Golf Channel and other media groups for libel in connection with coverage of his move to LIV Golf. And when McIlroy revealed that he had just received a subpoena from Reid on Christmas Eve 2022 to appear in court as a witness, the gate was open.

This led to the so-called ‘going gate’ last Tuesday, in which Reid first welcomed McIlroy’s caddy to Dubai, but then saw his outstretched hand go unanswered by a Northern Irishman. Next, I saw Reed throw the tee (the piece on which the golf ball is placed for a shot) toward McIlroy. The two got into a verbal altercation in the media in the following days. For example, Reed called his rival an “immature little boy”.

In the final round on Monday, McIlroy shared the lead with Reid with two holes to play, but the Northern Irishman hit two more, one stroke better than Reed (19 under par) in the final score. His opponent had become young after all. McIlroy: “I admit that this victory tasted a little sweeter than usual. Especially since I wasn’t playing my best golf and it’s been a very tough week mentally.” For McIlroy, this is now his 36th career victory and the third time he has won in Dubai. The last round was held exceptionally on a Monday, after the tournament was postponed for the first two days due to heavy rain.