Patrick Reed has teed off on Rory McIlroy — literally.
The two golf stars were on the driving range at the Emirates Golf Club on Monday for this week’s Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour when Reed, who last year bolted for controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf, approached McIlroy and stood a few feet away to say hello. The Northern Irishman didn’t look up or acknowledge him, according to Spanish outlet TenGolf.com.
Reed then acknowledged McIlroy’s caddie and stood a few seconds longer, but McIlroy continued to ignore him. Reed then walked away and in the process threw a tee in McIlroy’s direction in disgust, the report states.
McIlroy, the world No. 1 and a four-time major champ, has been a vocal critic of the the breakaway circuit since it launched last year, with the Northern Irishman and LIV CEO Greg Norman trading verbal blows on multiple occasions last year.
Reed, who won the 2018 Masters, was suspended by the PGA Tour after going to LIV, but continues to play in DP World Tour events until an arbitration case next month determines whether the European-based tour can likewise ban players who play on LIV from its tournaments. The 32-year-old has also found himself embroiled in other controversy, having filed a defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel and analyst Brandel Chamblee.
This week’s tournament is the first of the year for McIlroy, who is coming off three wins in 2022 and won both the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai and PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup.
UPDATE: A previous version of this article reported that Reed’s defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel and analyst Brandel Chamblee was dismissed on Friday by a federal judge. However, Reed’s complaint was dismissed without prejudice in November 2022 and he has since filed an amended complaint against the Golf Channel and Chamblee. That lawsuit remains active.