Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed play on the LIV Golf league now, but back in 2019 they were both competing on the PGA Tour.

Six years ago, Reed had won The Masters the previous year while Smith had just one PGA Tour win to his name.

Of course, the Australian went on to rack up five more PGA Tour wins, before triumphing at The Open Championship in 2022, and then switching to LIV Golf just months later.

Smith and Reed have played a lot of golf together throughout the years, although it’s fair to say that they have never quite seen eye-to-eye.

Back in 2024, Smith praised Reed for his work ethic, having watched him closely on LIV.

However, in 2019, the Australian and the American butted heads over an incident just before the Presidents Cup.

The PGA Tour reprimanded Cameron Smith after what he said about Patrick Reed

In 2019, the Presidents Cup was held in Melbourne and the United States won the event by a score of 16-14.

However, after the Presidents Cup finished that year, Australian Golf Digest claimed that Smith received a strong warning from the PGA Tour regarding his future conduct, after something he said about Reed before the event began.

Firstly, Smith was not impressed at all by Reed’s explanation after he was handed a two-stroke penalty at the Hero World Challenge for allegedly improving his lie in a bunker.

Reed defended himself after the incident at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas.

The American said: “It’s not the right word to use. At the end of the day, if you do something unintentionally that breaks the rules, it’s not considered cheating, but I wasn’t intentionally trying to improve a lie or anything like that. If I was, it would have been a really good lie, and I would have hit it really close.“

Before Smith responded by saying: “If you make a mistake maybe once you can maybe understand, but to give a bit of a bull***t response like the camera angle – I mean, that’s pretty up there.”

The Australian then urged the fans in his home country to heckle Reed at the Presidents Cup which was set to start the week after the Hero World Challenge.

He said: “I hope the crowd absolutely gives it to not only him but everyone (from team America) next week.”

The Australian fans jumped on those comments from Smith and, as expected, gave Reed a really tough time in Melbourne that week.

Patrick Reed treated unfairly and Cameron Smith’s comments stoked the fire

It was never proven that Reed intentionally improved his lie at the Hero World Challenge in 2019, and it’s fair to argue that the American has been unfairly treated by the media throughout the years.

A lot of players who know Reed well speak very highly of him, Harold Varner III included.

Smith’s comments about Reed were extremely harsh, although he would disagree with that sentiment, and the PGA Tour clearly were not happy with what he said.

The last thing Reed needed before playing a Presidents Cup in Australia was one of the home team players urging the fans to get on the American’s back.

The 35-year-old one-time major champion is a fierce competitor and it’s a shame that many golf fans, and indeed journalists, have never really given him a fair chance.

Cameron Smith’s comments about Patrick Reed were unnecessary and they certainly were not in keeping with the spirit of the game.