"He's protected by the Tour and that's all that matters, I guess.”

It was the final line in Xander Schauffele’s post-round 2021 Farmer’s Insurance Open press conference but it should also set off alarm bells in the Global Home.

Q.  Did you have a chance to see what happened with Patrick Reed yesterday?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE:  Not ‑‑ I didn't search for the videos, I just have heard talk amongst the boys out here.

Q.  Have you ever ran into a situation like that on the golf course?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE:  I would not put myself and create a situation like that. That's kind of ‑‑ I wouldn't. If my ball's embedded, I usually will wait and call someone and kind of wait until everyone's on the same page, wait to look at video. So I try to avoid situations like that just for that reason.

Q.  Just to be clear, you wouldn't have picked the ball up?

XANDER SCHAUFFELE:  No. I would wait for an official. You can put a tee in the ground and check your ball. I mean, he did everything by the book according to the official and everyone stood by there. Obviously the talk amongst the boys isn't great, I guess, but he's protected by the Tour and that's all that matters, I guess. 

Oh boy.

Protected by the Tour is not a good perception to have players sense about a player, particularly one with a less than stellar body of work.

Well Xander, say hi to Ross Berlin for all of us. Loves the ponies and has great stories to tell along with taking excellent notes for the folks back at the Global Home.