Sunday 27 January 2019 20:19, UK
Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed insisted they had "moved on" from their Ryder Cup disappointment and any animosity between the pair had been settled months ago.
The American pair provided the biggest talking point of the third day of the Farmers Insurance Open when they shared a warm pre-round embrace on the first tee at Torrey Pines, which swiftly became a huge hit on social media sites.
Spieth and Reed had been grouped together for the first time since Team USA's crushing defeat to Europe at Le Golf National last autumn, after which Reed vented his frustration at not being given a chance to renew his partnership with Spieth having lost only one of their seven matches together in 2014 and 2016.
In an interview with the New York Times, Reed claimed Spieth, who featured in all four sessions with Justin Thomas, "didn't want to play with me", while he was also critical of captain Jim Furyk and accused his team-mates of "not leaving their egos at the door".
Reed, who lost two fourballs matches with Tiger Woods and sat out both foursomes sessions in Paris, hinted in December that he had still not settled his differences with Spieth, but he has now revealed that they had resolved the situation as soon as they returned home from the Ryder Cup.
"Literally when we got off the plane, it was old news and we all moved on from there," said reigning Masters champion Reed, who bounced back from his defeats with Woods to claim victory over Tyrrell Hatton in Sunday's singles.
"It's really nothing. We're now just out here trying to play some good golf and trying to feed off each other as well as just trying to go out and shoot low numbers."
Spieth hinted the public man-hug on the first tee was a sarcastic move aimed at the media, suggesting this apparent feud with Reed had been over-exaggerated by journalists.
"It was more kind of sarcasm toward y'all," said Spieth, in reference to the media. "We've seen each other plenty of times at [the Sony Open in Hawaii] and here and everything's been the way it normally is.
"We knew the cameras were on and we knew people were interested in that, so I just thought it would be kind of funny."
