Patrick Reed proves he doesn’t care what you think of him

Patrick Reed overcame yet another rules controversy to run away with the Farmers Insurance Open on Sunday

Call Patrick Reed whatever you want: a cheater, a villain, a stain on the game of golf. He’s fine with all of it, because he’s also one of the PGA Tour’s most prolific winners. He showed why on Sunday at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Reed ignited a firestorm of controversy during Saturday’s third round at Torrey Pines the way he knows how: by bending the rules. Hitting from a fairway bunker on the 10th hole, his second shot was pulled to the left, took a bounce in the rough and settled into thick grass, made worse by the wet weather that halted play the day before.

But Reed didn’t see the ball bounce, and neither did his playing partners or the volunteer marshal standing nearby. He thought the ball was embedded in the ground. If he left the ball alone and called for a rules official, the incident would’ve passed without notice. That’s not what he did, though. He picked it up and dropped it a club-length away. Only then did he call for the official, who agreed with his version of events.

The PGA Tour reiterated after the round that Reed did nothing wrong. If he was anyone else, it would’ve soon been forgotten. But Reed is the tour’s consummate villain, hated by a wide swarth of fans who don’t hesitate to call him out on social media.

If he’s bothered by any of this criticism, though, Reed doesn’t let it show. There was no indication that what happened on the 10th hole Saturday was still bothering him during the final round. His four-under round of 68 on Sunday was the lowest of anyone who began the day in the top 10.

His antics tend to overshadow what he does well on the golf course. He’s probably the best short-game player on tour right now; he ranked only 63rd in greens in regulation this week but still won by five shots. At the 10th, the scene of the crime, he had another terrible lie over the green but hit a delicate chip shot to within two feet to save par.

How does he do it? How does he ignore all the bad things people say about him? With a single-minded focus on the task at hand. “Really my biggest takeaway is that mentally I hung in there and stayed to the course,” he told CBS following his victory.

“Because really the biggest thing is, with everything that transpired yesterday, and pulling up a rules official, he said, ‘Patrick, you did everything you could’ … With that being said, I felt fine, I felt great throughout the day. At the end of the day, I wouldn’t have felt any other way. I was able to shoot a low number today and get the job done.”

Reed is now a nine-time PGA Tour winner. He’s won at such courses as Augusta National, Torrey Pines, Doral, Bethpage and Liberty National. He has at least one win each of the last four years.

So go ahead and criticize him. He doesn’t mind one bit.