The Unquiet American

Almost certainly, the TV people had decided it was the best of follow-on stories to what had happened when Ted Bishop, President of the PGA of America, was sacked for calling Ian Poulter “a squealing little schoolgirl”. (That a man of his age was sending silly messages on Twitter was surely enough of a reason in itself to call for his removal.)

Reed was shown the clip and, for advice on what to do next, he went first to his wife and then to Bubba Watson, who knew a thing or two about making a bit of a fool of himself.

Watson could only agree that he had messed up. “We all do it from time to time,” he advised. “You need to learn from it.”

Thanks not least to Justine and Watson, Reed’s apology was up there with the best. Golf, he said, was a gentleman’s game and he should never have done what he did: “I made a stupid error, that’s for sure. Its hould never have happened.”

He blamed no one but himself and, though he reminded his audience that he was still only young, he said that he would indeed be learning from the experience.

Justine was not well in China. She had an eye infection which got worse by the day and, by the Saturday night, the doctor was declaring that she needed to go to hospital at once - a good hour away.

It was a wintry night when the couple took off by car to the hospital, with Patrick still in a short-sleeved shirt. Where, previously, people had been of the opinion that Justine ruled the roost in their relationship, that evening was altogether different. That Patrick still had a fourth round to play at the Sheshan GC (it would be a 71 which left him in a share of 22nd place), was beside the point. He was only interested in Justine and those who saw him disappearing into the cold night with a protective arm about her shoulders gave a knowing nod.

There was no question that Reed had his good side.