'My Kids Have Been Bullied At School' - Patrick Reed On How His Bad Press Has Affected Family

Although he's well used now to some negative publicity, Patrick Reed says things have gone too far after revealing it has been affecting his kids at school.

Reed is currently playing at the Asian Tour's International Series Philippines, which is a world away from when he sprung to prominance by winning The Masters and his Ryder Cup exploits.

Although as 'Captain America' he was something of a national hero when helping to beat the Europeans, generally in golf he's had a bit of a tarnished reputation from allegations of rule bending.

"They say a lot of stuff, it's all false," Reed told AFP of those cheating rumors, which he'd happily deal with personally, but which cross the line when affecting his family.

"My kids have been bullied at school so that's where it's uncalled for," Reed added.

"When they all of a sudden look at your children and say stuff about them, it's like you don't even know my children and why would you even bring kids into it?

"It's not fun having to deal with some of the stuff that we deal with. The great thing is I have an amazing support team at home and an amazing family."

Reed insists he is not the person he is often portrayed to be either in the traditional media or on social media, but he still holds out hope of changing that public perception.

"The kind of person I am on and off the golf course hasn't been portrayed very well in the media throughout my career, but it's almost impossible to control others," Reed said.

"All you can do is control yourself, so I feel like I'm doing everything the right way, living the right way.

"Everyone I play pro-ams with and everybody I meet, they're all like: 'Man, you're nothing like what the media portrays you as'.

"So as long as that just continues happening, at some point it will turn around."

Reed still holds Ryder Cup hope

Reed feels like he could've been "a huge asset to the team, especially at a place I won before" if he'd played for Team USA at Bethpage.

He says though that whatever team Keegan Bradley played "I don't think we'd be able to hang with the way the Euros played" for the first two days, calling Luke Donald's side "unreal".

And the 35-year-old still holds out hope that he can play in the Ryder Cup again, with the 2027 away trip to Adare Manor in Ireland his next target.

"I love playing, especially on foreign soil," said Reed.

"It's always kind of good to go over there and be the guy that's a thorn in their side."

And Reed has been playing pretty well - finishing third at The Masters, winning the LIV Golf Dallas event and and securing another third at the BMW PGA Championship.

Reed finished second at the International Series Macau and shot 70-66 in the opening two rounds in the Philippines.