Patrick Reed Standing out as Best Hope to Lead USA to 2016 Ryder Cup Win

The pair looked like two of the monkeys in the fabled drawing we’ve all seen myriad times over the years. You know, that decades-old depiction of three chimps covering their eyes, ears and mouth, respectively.

Ryder Cup standout Patrick Reed and partner Jordan Spieth stood at the back of the ninth green Friday morning at Hazeltine National, pretending to be oblivious to all, as Henrik Stenson of the European team was forced to tap in a 20-inch par putt that the U.S. duo had stubbornly declined to concede.

Spieth stood with his arms folded, while Reed had his hands thrust deep in his pockets, their eyes affixed elsewhere. It looked like a pose of stoic defiance, not minor embarrassment, even as some questioned their gamesmanship.

“Honestly, looking back, we probably should have given it to them,” Spieth told the Golf Channel of the tap-in attempt. “We make mistakes sometimes. He’s never going to miss it. Whatcha gonna do?”

While Spieth looked decidedly uncomfortable explaining the decision as TV cameras rolled and the sportsmanship of their tactics was questioned, Reed stood two feet away, a huge smirk on his face and his arms crossed, seemingly loving it.

Every annoying minute, in fact.

Arms crossed, the look on Reed’s face when Maltbie asked Spieth about not conceding putt on No. 9 is absolutely freaking priceless. #Gamer pic.twitter.com/mswpyO6FEq

— Steve Elling (@EllingYelling) September 30, 2016

Indeed, now playing in his second Ryder Cup, Reed has become a modern-day Raymond Floyd, an emotional player with a chip on his shoulder and not a care in the world about what anybody else thinks. Sent off in the opening foursome of alternate-shot play, Reed and Spieth cruised to a 3&2 win over Stenson and Justin Rose, leading the Americans to a 4-0 session sweep and a 5-3 lead at the end of the first day.

Talk about first things first.

The U.S. entered the week having lost six of the last seven Ryder Cups, including three in succession. Critically, Europe had claimed a victory in the first Friday match in five of those meetings, and halved a point in another. With the fan-baiting Reed at the front of the American wagon, the Yanks recorded the first opening-session sweep by either side since 1975, when the late Arnold Palmer captained the Americans to a huge early lead.

The duo of Reed and Spieth were 2-0-1 as a team in 2014, but Stenson and Rose were 3-0 and, as major-championship winners, represented Europe’s most formidable team. A few weeks ago, Rose and Stenson finished 1-2 at the Olympics in Brazil, too.

In an afternoon rematch of the same foursome, of medals versus mettle, Reed and Spieth birdied the first three holes, but Stenson and Rose made a superlative …

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