Patrick Reed Standing out as Best Hope to Lead USA to 2016 Ryder Cup Win

The pair looked like two of the monkeys in the fabled drawing we've all seen myriad times over the years. You know, that decades-old depiction of three chimps covering their eyes, ears and mouth, respectively.

Ryder Cup standout Patrick Reed and partner Jordan Spieth stood at the back of the ninth green Friday morning at Hazeltine National, pretending to be oblivious to all, as Henrik Stenson of the European team was forced to tap in a 20-inch par putt that the U.S. duo had stubbornly declined to concede.

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Spieth stood with his arms folded, while Reed had his hands thrust deep in his pockets, their eyes affixed elsewhere. It looked like a pose of stoic defiance, not minor embarrassment, even as some questioned their gamesmanship.

"Honestly, looking back, we probably should have given it to them," Spieth told the Golf Channel of the tap-in attempt. "We make mistakes sometimes. He's never going to miss it. Whatcha gonna do?"

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While Spieth looked decidedly uncomfortable explaining the decision as TV cameras rolled and the sportsmanship of their tactics was questioned, Reed stood two feet away, a huge smirk on his face and his arms crossed, seemingly loving it.

Every annoying minute, in fact.

Indeed, now playing in his second Ryder Cup, Reed has become a modern-day Raymond Floyd, an emotional player with a chip on his shoulder and not a care in the world about what anybody else thinks. Sent off in the opening foursome of alternate-shot play, Reed and Spieth cruised to a 3&2 win over Stenson and Justin Rose, leading the Americans to a 4-0 session sweep and a 5-3 lead at the end of the first day.

Talk about first things first.

The U.S. entered the week having lost six of the last seven Ryder Cups, including three in succession. Critically, Europe had claimed a victory in the first Friday match in five of those meetings, and halved a point in another. With the fan-baiting Reed at the front of the American wagon, the Yanks recorded the first opening-session sweep by either side since 1975, when the late Arnold Palmer captained the Americans to a huge early lead.

The duo of Reed and Spieth were 2-0-1 as a team in 2014, but Stenson and Rose were 3-0 and, as major-championship winners, represented Europe's most formidable team. A few weeks ago, Rose and Stenson finished 1-2 at the Olympics in Brazil, too.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

In an afternoon rematch of the same foursome, of medals versus mettle, Reed and Spieth birdied the first three holes, but Stenson and Rose made a superlative nine birdies in 14 holes to win the best-ball match, 5&4.

While Reed's overall record in two Ryder appearances stands at 4-1-1, the team almost certainly will need far more from its figurative lighting rod given the team's recent back story. After the European rally in the afternoon, the Yanks needed every point they amassed early.

"I wouldn't say it was simple," Reed told the Golf Channel after the morning session. "Anytime you are taking on Rose and Stenson, it's not simple. We were hitting a lot of greens and in alternate shot you have to do that. You have to give yourself a lot of opportunities and we were lucky enough to hit a lot of greens and have good looks."

Earlier, as the uncomfortable scene on the ninth green played out, broadcaster Nick Faldo—who has recorded more wins than any player in Ryder Cup history—called the American duo "feisty."

That term has been commonly ascribed to Reed, who has played on American Ryder, Presidents Cup and Olympics teams. Barring injury or some unforeseen development, Reed darned likely will be leading the American charge for the next decade or more.

Clearly, somebody needs to.

Reed, 26, generally falls into two categories: Fans find him to be irrepressibly obnoxious or irresistibly irreplaceable. Even Americans who aren't crazy about him over the other 103 weeks between Ryder competitions are glad he's on the team this week—after all, somebody needs to serve as the continental counterbalance to Sergio Garcia.

Former PGA of America president Ted Bishop, who this week is attending his fourth straight Ryder Cup, all but predicted Reed's performance a few days before the matches began.

"I tell you what, I think he's got the potential to be the American version of Ian Poulter," Bishop told Bleacher Report of Reed. "He's a phenomenal player. He's the one American who I don't think I'd want any part of in Ryder Cup.

"Just like Poulter, he sort of rises to the occasion and the circumstances, and finds a way to win. I think he will be a real force."

Whenever the European team tried to apply pressure down the stretch in the morning, Reed answered, making a six-footer on the 10th, five-footer on the 13th and three-footer on the 14th to halve holes until they could put the match on ice.

"This guy, we could do an hour of his highlights from the last two Ryder Cups," Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said Friday night.

No shrinking violet, Reed made international ripples when he shushed the crowd in 2014 in Scotland, placing his fingers to his lips before a partisan crowd after making a lengthy putt. He not only welcomes the noise, he embraces it.

Reed was easy to spot from the moment he teed off. With temperatures near 50 degrees and a persistent fog shrouding the course for the first hour, the other players in the session showed up wearing long sleeves, sweaters and ski caps to ward off the Minnesota cold.

Not Reed. The beefy Texas resident stripped off everything from the waste up but his red, short-sleeve shirt. Guess it was time for the gun show.

Not surprisingly, considering the America fortunes, the Europeans came storming back, winning three of the four afternoon matches in convincing fashion.

Given the losing streak of the Yanks, who have dropped eight of the last 10 Ryder competitions in every conceivable fashion—including three defeats on home turf—the fast start was essential, especially considering what transpired in the afternoon.

History suggests that despite the loss of momentum, the Yanks are in prime position. Never in Ryder Cup history has a team leading by three or more points after the first session ultimately lost the competition, which ought to give Reed and crew something positive to sleep on, though a 5-3 lead didn't seem all that sweet, considering.

That said, the American contingent left feeling somewhat deflated, and wondering whether the morning session was foreshadowing, and not foreboding.

"It's frustrating not coming out a little bit more ahead," U.S. captain Davis Love III told the Golf Channel as the European fans chanted their favorite lyrics, ole, ole, ole, ole, behind him.

However it plays out, Reed will be a centerpiece of the attack or retreat—and relish every moment.