One of sports’ greatest spring traditions took place this past weekend in Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters brought together the best golfers in the world. The drama on Sunday got intense as Georgia native Patrick Reed held off spirited charges from Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth to claim his first Major victory of his career. A relatively subdued crowd at the 18th green served as a bit of foreshadowing for what was to come, as reports of Reed’s checkered history have flooded the news in the last two days.
One aspect of this recent media coverage – Reed’s strained relationship with his family – has taken up many headlines. Unfortunately for Reed and his wife Justine, most of them seem to tell a one-sided story that seems to place blame for what happened on them.
A piece by Golf Magazine, titled, “‘My son is a Masters champion: Patrick Reed’s estranged family endures a complex mix of emotions” is particularly egregious, and was the catalyst for a lot of the discussions that have taken place. In the piece, the author attempts to tell the story of their family estrangement, primarily through interviews with Patrick’s family, that tell only their side.
Back in 2014, Reed’s family was allegedly removed from the U.S Open at Pinehurst when Patrick approached the 18th hole. The family claims that they were removed at the request of Justine, despite no one else independently verifying this.
In 2016, Justine wrote a Facebook post about Patrick’s family that was briefly mentioned by Golf Magazine: “They are sick people and need help.” He then described a response from Patrick’s younger sister in full detail rebuking the post and referring to Patrick as “a selfish, horrible stranger.”
Sadly, the story neglects to mention that the rest of Justine’s post claims that Patrick’s parents were abusive towards him as a child. Golf Magazine opts to leave this part of Justine’s Facebook post out for no discernable reason.
The one-sided coverage from the Golf Magazine piece has trickled down into additional articles about the situation, which have continued to unfairly put Patrick and Justine in a bad light. His family has been portrayed in many of the articles almost as a victim, and free of any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Patrick and Justine are being unfairly dragged through the mud and are taking all the blame for the situation based on hearsay and one-sided storytelling.
The biggest problem is that all of this could make future reconciliation between the two sides more difficult. I appreciate the fact that we are having more conversations about important issues rather than simply what happens on the course. However, when journalists engage in this type of work, it needs to be handled with the utmost care and respect for all parties involved.
The coverage of the estrangement between Patrick Reed and his family seems to fall short in this regard, leading to unfair treatment of both Patrick and his wife Justine. Worst of all, this negative coverage may reignite tensions between the sides and make reconciliation more difficult. One can only hope that someday Patrick and his family will be able to reconcile, but the coverage of the family estrangement this week has done more harm than good.
