Jordan Spieth drops story about Patrick Reed ahead of Ryder Cup: "Move on"
PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth dropped a story about playing alongside Patrick Reed when asked about hostile Ryder Cup crowds.
ROME - Jordan Spieth is aware he'll be at the receiving end of some taunts by boozy European fans at this Ryder Cup.
Yet the American, 30, will handle the heckles differently.
Spieth is set to compete in the contest for the fifth time at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
For the very first time he'll tee it up as a father of two after he and wife Annie welcomed baby Sophie into their family on 12 September.
In Spieth's mind, his appearance here was never in doubt despite the time his daughter was scheduled to arrive.
His prep for this contest was a little bit different to his teammates, though. He got his first look of Marco Simone on Monday.
Spieth opted to skip the team recce earlier in the month for reasons he refused to elaborate. The good news though, is baby and mother are happy and healthy. They are at home.
On Tuesday, Spieth played alongside Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
His Ryder Cup record is 8-7-3. On European soil, it's 5-3-1.
Team USA are favourites to lift the cup in hostile territory for the first time in more than three decades.
But to do that they will have to play at their very, very best and drown out the noise from the partisan crowd.
Over the years, players have demonstrated a number of varying strategies to deal with the drunk wisecracks.
Spieth dropped a story about Patrick Reed, who is now plying his trade over at LIV Golf.
Reed knows better than anyone what it's like to be at the receiving end of some nasty comments.
"I played a lot of matches with Patrick Reed," Spieth told reporters.
He continued:
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Spieth said he would be a hypocrite if he had a different approach.
"I've shouted plenty of things at sporting events at people that I have no reason to do," he said.
"So I also try to say, pot and kettle, and recognize that it's all just sport and move on.
"So everyone approaches it differently, and the way I get up and get going normally is not affected by that. But some guys, it is. I could be jealous of that in certain cases."
The Ryder Cup begins on Friday. Follow GolfMagic for all the latest news, updates and analysis.
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