We bet when you saw the headline about a late ‘fore’ call from Patrick Reed, you probably automatically assumed he was very much in the wrong. In fact, you probably hoped he was. In this case, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

About halfway through his opening round at the LIV Golf London event, Reed found himself in some thick grass left of the fairway at Centurion’s par-5 13th. Generally speaking, even for the best players in the world, high grass like the stuff Reed was hitting out of is going to turn the club over at impact and create a bad left miss.

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You’d think with that knowledge that fans wouldn’t stand directly in the left-miss zone, but that didn’t stop one spectator from doing exactly that. When Reed’s club predictably turned over and he pulled one low and left, he nearly took said spectator’s head off. In a rare bit of brilliant comedic timing, Reed let out a sheepish “fore” call a few seconds after the dust had settled:

Funny stuff, P-Reed! Nobody actually got hit, and there was no actual time to call “FORE” to this guy standing about 30 yards ahead. He, to steal an iconic “Happy Gilmore” quote, shouldn’t have been standing there. Lesson learned. Even if the man has a green jacket to his name, you’re going to want to stand the hell back when he’s hitting from knee-deep rough. 

Reed, impressively, went on to save par, then played his final nine holes in two under to post a one-under 70. He’s seven off the lead of Cameron Smith, who opened with a bogey-free 63 to take the solo lead.