The third day of the Presidents Cup brought more controversy for Patrick Reed even as the American team dug itself a deeper hole in the morning round of the four-day event.

The caddie for Reed, the 2018 Masters champion who has been chided relentlessly by the crowds at Royal Melbourne after he was assessed a two-shot penalty at last week’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas for a rules violation, was involved in an altercation after his morning match, according to multiple reports. A source told ESPN that Kessler Karain, Reed’s caddie and brother-in-law, punched a fan following Reed and Webb Simpson’s four-ball match loss to Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan.

“Riding on the cart, guy was about three feet from Patrick and said, ‘You f—— suck.’ I got off the cart and shoved him, said a couple things, probably a few expletives,” Karain said in a statement to ESPN’s Michael Collins.

“As a caddie one of your jobs is to protect your player,” Karain said in his statement. “And unlike several other sports, in golf fans can get pretty close to Athletes. We have been known for having fun with some good banter, but after hearing several fans in Australia for 3 days some had taken it too far, I had enough. And this gentleman was one of them.

“I don’t think there’s one caddie I know that could blame me,” Karain said. “Unless his bones break like Mr. Glass, the most harm done was a little spilled beer, which I’m more than happy to reimburse him for.”

The PGA Tour is looking into the incident.

Fans this week have called Reed “Patrick Cheat” and poked fun at him, with one fan yelling “Next on the tee, the excavator,” before he teed off for a practice round Tuesday. Reed didn’t help his cause Friday when he made a birdie putt, cupped his ear and then pretended to use his putter as a shovel.

Reed’s loss was part of a disappointing early session that saw the International team grow its lead to 9-5 as American captain Tiger Woods sat out the day’s action.

“You have to do what’s best for the team,” Woods said Friday. “And I’m getting ready for the singles tomorrow.”

Here are Saturday’s four-ball match results with four foursome matches left to play on Day 3:

Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas def. Haotong Li/Marc Leishman, 3 and 2

Abraham Ancer/Sungjae Im def. Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele, 3 and 2

C.T. Pan/Hideki Matsuyama def. Webb Simpson/Patrick Reed, 5 and 3

Tony Finau/Matt Kuchar tied Byeong Hun An/Adam Scott

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