Patrick Reed had a mini-meltdown when someone from the Porsche European Open camera crew shook his pocket full of loose change, distracting the golfer before a shot.
Golf is hard enough when you realize that, outside of your caddy, you're on your own. You have no teammates to shoot for you, no one to pass to, no timeouts or substitutions when you're off your game. Climbing up or falling down the leaderboard is entirely a result of how well you hit each shot. Patrick Reed knows this. So his reaction on the 10th hole of the Porsche European Open was surprising, but not entirely shocking.
Reed figured the least he could expect was that the crew hired to shoot the tournament not be distracting. "I'm not hitting until y'all get the heck out of here," Reed said to the crew. "Like completely out of here. Ridiculous."
Clearly upset at what he believed to be a lack of professionalism from people who should have known better, Reed admonished the crew and told them they'd "lost their privileges." He waited, and when the crew was well out of his range, he took his shot, going up-and-down for par on the hole after the incident.
This is obviously not the first time golfers have had to deal with distractions while hitting. During the British Open, Tiger Woods had to try and hit a shot with a fan who yelled during his backswing. It was later revealed that fan had consumed a few too many alcoholic beverages. In Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Waste Management Open, the 16th hole is an exercise in hitting while thousands of people party in the grandstands behind you.
Where this was different for Reed was that these were people who follow golf for a living. Their entire job is to capture the action without making noise. They had next to no excuse.
The distraction hasn't seemed to hurt Reed's game this week. Reed heads into the weekend two strokes off the pace and tied for fourth alongside David Drysdale and Romain Wattel.