RORY'S NEMESIS PATRICK REED OUT IN FRONT IN DUBAI AND HE NEEDS TO WIN JUST TO PAY ALL HIS FINES!
Patrick Reed reckons he needs to win around £1million in prizes to cover the fines he acquires across the average season. If he keeps scoring like he has in the first two rounds of the Dubai Desert Classic, he’ll have cleared his losses by Sunday evening.
With a bogey-free loop of 66, the divisive American will take a one-shot lead over England’s Andy Sullivan into the weekend. But those hoping for a fiery reunion between Reed and Rory McIlroy will be disappointed – the world No 2 is seven strokes behind after a 69 and highly unlikely to contend for the £1.1million cheque.
The context behind the Reed-McIlroy feud is among the more surreal in the extensive genre of golfing squabbles.
It was at this same course in 2023 when tee-gate broke out after McIlroy snubbed the LIV rebel on the driving range and Reed responded by flinging a peg back at the Northern Irishman.
Reed, who went on to finish second behind McIlroy that year, was in the mood to laugh about it on Friday, saying: ‘It was hilarious. I guess I need to grab a handful (of tees) and break the ice. Maybe he needs to throw one at me.’
Based on the way McIlroy has swung his clubs this week, chances are he would miss. His game is carrying plenty of early-season rust, as is that of world No 3 Tommy Fleetwood, who squeezed inside the cut with no room to spare on one over par.
Reed is having no such difficulties. Nor is he engaged in any of the fine-related litigation that has weighed down two of his LIV colleagues, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. Like them, the retention of his DP World Tour card is contingent on paying sanctions of up to £100,000 each time he tees up on LIV, but thereafter they differ – he stumps up the cash and gets on with it.
‘If I have to pay fines to play out here, so be it,’ he said. ‘I'm not going to allow that to deter me from playing on this tour. Go ahead and win early and that will take care of it.
‘The biggest thing for me is I love playing. I've always wanted to be a worldwide player and I love being that one American that comes over here and tries to be a thorn in everyone's side when all the Europeans are out playing.
'If I play like I'm supposed to, that will take care of the fines.’
Read more 2026-01-23T15:30:03Z