Patrick Reed Releases Statement On 'Tree Gate' Cheating Allegations, Only Digs Himself In Deeper Hole

Patrick Reed has released a statement regarding his latest cheating allegation - which has been nicknamed 'tree gate' - after the golf world spent the last 48 hours picking apart the situation.

"Some people love controversy," the statement begins, insinuating that this entire situation has been drummed up by golf fans and the media.

Reed didn't even use the Notes app for his statement, either, he took a screenshot of a text message he fired off to an unknown person.

In case you missed it, during Sunday’s third round at the Dubai Desert Classic, Reed’s tee shot on the Par 4 17th was lodged in a tree. He and a rules official identified his ball in the tree which then allowed him to take an unplayable penalty below.

Identifying the ball saved Reed at least one shot. Had he not been able to identify his ball, he would have had to re-tee as his initial tee shot would have been deemed a lost ball. Instead, Reed played his third shot from beneath the tree and made a bogey on the hole.

READ: RORY MCILROY TORCHES PATRICK REED, CONFIRMS HE IGNORED HIM BEFORE REED ALLEGEDLY THREW A TEE AT HIM

According to Reed, he was not asked to identify the tree his tee shot struck and was only asked to describe the markings on his golf ball.

Slow-mo video of his tee shot shows that Reed and the rules official weren't even looking at the tree his ball was lodged in. Reed was convinced that his ball was lodged in the third of a group of three trees, but the video replay clearly shows his ball nestled in the first tree.

What we have here with Reed releasing his statement is him simply casting the blame elsewhere. He's undoubtedly seen the video showing his ball finding the first tree and knows that he got away with an improper ruling.

Instead of taking any blame or admitting that he may have received an improper ruling, he's pointing the finger at the DP World Tour and the rules official for identifying his golf ball in the tree.

Reed is essentially saying 'they said it was fine, so I went with it' in his statement.

Even if we didn't have clear video evidence that Reed barked up the wrong tree it would be close to impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt given his history in other alleged cheating instances.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris