The night before he won the US Masters, Patrick Reed was asked why some people, mostly on social media, don’t seem to like him much.

“I have no idea and honestly I don’t really care,” Reed said.

“I’m out here to do my job.”

He did that, clinching the 82nd Masters title by one shot over Rickie Fowler. But the 27-year-old Texan didn’t win hearts or break free from his role as golf’s most divisive player, a black hat in a pink polo top.

As Reed, ranked 24 in the world, teed off at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, his own introduction was drowned out by support for playing partner Rory McIlroy.

As he plodded up the fairways he heard explosive roars for Jordan Spieth and Fowler. On Reed’s cheer squad? His wife Justine and her brother Kessler Karain, who does double duty as caddie.

But while the golfer’s parents Jeannette and Bill live in Augusta, they were not at the course to see their son’s triumph. The Reeds and daughter Hannah have been estranged from Reed for years.

At the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst, police escorted the trio off the grounds while Reed was playing and the USGA confiscated their badges. Jeannette said Reed was acting on wife Justine’s orders.

Still, before the Masters’ final round, she tweeted a throwback photo of him as a small boy in shorts and tie with a club: “Go Patrick Reed!”

It was later removed, with Jeannette’s last tweet now a phrase: “Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence.”

Justine Reed caddies for husband Patrick in a 2017 Masters practice round. Photo: Getty

The fractured family situation is just one part of a headline-making personal history.

In trying to explain Reed to those with only a passing interest in golf, The Washington Post said: “He has long been a cantankerous type.”

To Golf: “He’s an uber-talented player but with a chequered history, one that’s filled with controversies that date to his college years.”

Back then, Reed was booted from the University of Georgia golf team after one year.

Author Shane Ryan alleged in his book Slaying the Tiger: A Year Inside the Ropes on the New PGA Tour that the young golfer cheated by reporting incorrect scores and trying to hit a better-positioned ball that wasn’t his, and that he allegedly stole about US$400 from a teammate.

Reed said he was axed for alcohol violations, but Ryan’s story was backed up as “an accurate account” by Jason Payne, the assistant golf coach at Georgia during Reed’s time.

Ivanka and Donald Trump congratulate Reed after his WGC win in Florida in March 2014. Photo: Getty

In November 2014, the golfer was caught on camera using a gay slur after missing a putt, which “furthered the belief that Reed might not be fully in control of his instrument”, Golf reported.

While his fierce attitude is why he’s dubbed ‘Captain America’, one fight he won’t get into is what happened with his family.

Bill and Jeannette have said tension started when Patrick became engaged to Justine Karain (who ditched nursing to be his caddy) in January 2012.

Their opinion was he was too young to get married, according to Golf.

When the wedding happened in December that year, they weren’t on the guest list and don’t see their grandchildren, Windsor-Wells, 3, and Barrett Benjamin, born last year.

In 2016 his retail worker sister Hannah shared her side of the family feud on Facebook, calling Reed a “selfish, horrible stranger” who “accused me of faking my two kidney surgeries to get him back into my life”.

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Hitting back, Justine claimed Patrick was abused physically and verbally by his parents, allegedly writing in a Facebook post obtained by The Sun that: “The last thing I would ever want for my daughter is to grow up in an environment like my husband did.”

Jeannette and Bill have denied the accusations of abuse, and said growing up, Reed’s major battles were often with himself.

“We had to pull him off the golf course plenty of times because of his behaviour,” Jeannette said. “He was like a volcano waiting to erupt.”