2020 Masters Choose Your Own Adventure, Patrick Reed vs. Jon Rahm: Crowd Goes Wild

There is more taunting throughout Reed’s round.

Ever see the summer sky darkening in the late-afternoon? It’s the moment we know a storm is coming; it’s not a matter of if, but when. Finally, that first raindrop falls. Then another. We don’t assume those are the only ones and it’ll soon be sunny again. No, we understand that those are just the beginning of what could be a deluge.

The first two catcalls toward Reed were the first raindrops.

Watching from his gallery, you already knew it wouldn’t soon be figuratively sunny. The deluge was coming.

To use another all-too-timely analogy, spectator screams are like a spreading virus. All it takes is one to infect a few more people, then they soon spread it to others. Nobody shows up on Thursday morning of a professional event with the idea of yelling silly things at golfers. No, this is a fire that grows as the week progresses, with alcohol, of course, as its natural lighter fluid.

Such is the case today, too.

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It’s not as if fans passed around a memo outside the gallery ropes, informing each other that if everyone chastises Reed, they can’t kick ‘em all out. But it’s like they just know. With two attendees already removed before he’d hit his second shot of the day, there are really only two options: Either everybody remains quiet or nobody does.

Instinctually, the gallery has chosen the second option. Granted, it’s not everyone. Not even close. But if the number of screamers jumps from 1% to 10%, it suddenly becomes more difficult to police, even in a place with security like this.

Reed eventually makes bogey on the hole — a decent bogey, all things considered — and to your amazement, you see four more fans being escorted away from the course as he walks toward the second tee.

This is about to get ugly, you tell yourself. Like a soccer game with a handful of yellow cards in the first few minutes, at some point the caution signs won’t mean anything at all.

• Fans continue berating Reed and getting kicked out.
• Fans subside from berating Reed and he continues in relative peace.

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