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Cape Town - Patrick Reed turned out to be the most vocal critic of Team USA's Ryder Cup efforts at Le Golf National, but his captain Jim Furyk is puzzled by his complaints.
Reed claimed that Jordan Spieth didn't want to resume their successful partnership from past Ryder and Presidents Cups, asking instead to be paired with Justin Thomas.
The move "blindsided" him, Reed said.
"The issue's obviously with Jordan not wanting to play with me," Reed told the Times.
"I don't have any issue with Jordan. When it comes right down to it, I don't care if I like the person I'm paired with or if the person likes me as long as it works and it sets up the team for success. He and I know how to make each other better. We know how to get the job done."
But speaking to Golf Channel, Furyk said the Ryder Cup pairings were known well in front of the actual matches.
"When I started looking at who (Tiger) would pair well with, I kept coming back to Patrick Reed," he said.
"There was always the idea that we could go Tiger and (Justin Thomas), and Patrick and Jordan, but ultimately they knew going into the week, weeks in advance, they knew they would start the Ryder Cup with Patrick and Tiger being partners."
Furyk said Reed only revealed he was unhappy about the situation after he and Woods suffered two straight losses and Reed sat for two other sessions.
"I talked about (the decision to break up Spieth and Reed) with the vice-captains," Furyk said.
"Discussed it. Is this something we really want to do? I really felt like we got two great pairings out of it. It was my call. Ultimately, I'm the one that made that decision, but it's a decision I stand by.
"We got Jordan and J.T. out of it. They played very well and won three of their four matches. I'll stand by it. I think Tiger and Patrick make a great pair. They went 0-2 playing against a formidable team both times, but I still think they make a good pair.
"Patrick and Tiger were excited about playing with each other."
As you can see, Reed and Furyk's accounts don't really gel at all, so it seems someone is being at least a little bit economical with the truth.
