Patrick Reed lines up a putt on the 17th green during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course. Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Reed accused of using Twitter burner account to defend cheating incident

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 1/30/21

Patrick Reed was at the center of a controversy for his actions on the 10th hole at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, Calif. on Saturday, and things may have blown up even more.

Reed was leading ahead of the 10th hole but got into a controversy after removing his ball to improve his lie, because he believed the ball had been embedded. Video showed that the ball bounced first (you can watch here).

Many believe Reed did so to give himself an advantage and that he should have consulted a course official before making a move.

Here is video of the incident:

The full exchange as Patrick Reed takes embedded ball relief on No. 10. pic.twitter.com/gSPH6PrAoW

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 30, 2021

Reed made par on the hole and is tied for the lead through three rounds. But he had to explain himself after the round, and he was at the center of scrutiny.

Reed’s Twitter account even sent a tweet defending the golfer. The tweet said Rory McIlroy did the same thing on the 18th hole.

https://t.co/qza5Aa1yrS. RORY MCILROY @McIlroyRory DID THE SAME THING TODAY ON HOLE 18! AND DIDN’T EVEN CALL A RULES OFFICIAL OVER TO DEEM THE BALL EMBEDDED. END OF STORY.

— Patrick Reed (@PReedGolf) January 31, 2021

What’s notable is that someone noticed the same exact tweet was sent in response to the same tweet, but it came from a different account.

So… this just happened pic.twitter.com/W3OEMenUpv

— Jacob Hallex (@jacob_hallex) January 31, 2021

The Twitter account, @usegolffacts, has a history of defending Reed.

Does Reed tweet from his personal account and also defend himself from the @usegolffacts account? Is the @usegolffacts account run by a fan who takes it upon him/herself to defend Reed? Or is there someone who is personally connected to Reed who tweets on his behalf, and also separately defends him from this other account?

Maybe we will find out more information, and maybe we will not. But this wouldn’t be the first case a top player got caught with a Twitter burner account. It also wouldn’t be the first time we saw this happen where an account was run by a family member.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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