playnext.fm

Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav · Golf Channel

With Patrick Reed set to return, the PGA Tour is embracing the villains

·38 min·3 clips
Patrick Reed's return sparks debate: does golf need villains to make the product better?
A midday statement changed everything. The Brooks Koepka and OWGR segment gets shoved aside once Patrick Reed, the PGA Tour, and Live Golf put Reed's possible return back in play. Reed has a route, but it is not tidy. Rex and Lav work through his one-year suspension, past-champion eligibility, and a possible Race to Dubai route through the DP World Tour. The timing is still fuzzy. They look at the fall schedule, including a possible new North Carolina event in Asheville, while Reed may still need DP World Tour status for 2027. Brooks becomes the measuring stick. Rex thinks Koepka gave the moment the contrition it needed, even if that has never seemed like his favorite club to pull. Reed is tougher. Nothing in the statements, as they hear them, sounds like the same kind of apology tour. Lav pushes back that Koepka and Reed are not entering through the same door, since the PGA Tour cleared more space for Koepka. Reed's path feels more conditional. He is grouped with other Live Golf players under return guidelines, not singled out the same way, which changes what he may owe when the cameras show up. The episode keeps coming back to a simple tension: the tour seems ready to bring players back, but not all through the same lane. The OWGR issue stays open. They close on the ranking decision, Brooks at the Farmers Insurance Open, Phoenix, and more Reed news that could land by Sunday night. Brisk, skeptical, and a little prickly.

As heard by us

Reed's return turns a routine golf rundown into a sharper discussion of eligibility, timing, and who the Tour lets back in.

Patrick Reed's return path gives Rex and Lav room to examine eligibility rules, reputation, and golf's short memory. The episode starts with a rundown change, then narrows into what the PGA Tour seems to be signaling as Reed says he plans to come back later this year.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When Patrick Reed's return turns into Tour politics, you want this read.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
Listen to the show on
Apple PodcastsSpotify
Play clips from this episodeMore from Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav