Patrick Reed and his burner twitter accounts trying to throw Rory under the bus now.
Reed (probably as a diversion) and PGATour are focusing on the wrong aspect. The question isn't "Did Patrick Reed follow the proper procedure for an embedded ball?" Because the answer there is maybe-probably-yes.
The real question is "Was the ball embedded in the first place?"
Unfortunately, we'll never know definitively so I don't think the PGA Tour can do anything and if there were shenanigans, Reed will get away with it. But it looks incredibly suspect.
Why is Reed asking if the ball bounced when he's 20' away from his ball?
Reed admitted that if a ball bounces, its virtually impossible to embed and he would've played it as it lied.
But why is this is even his defense? It's completely backwards.
To everyone else in the world determining if a ball is embedded: Look at the ball -> if it looks embedded, pick it up to check
Reed: ask if it bounced --> if it (apparently) didn't bounce, pick it up to check if embedded. In fact, he barely glances at it. He walks up to it, looks at while still standing and within 2 seconds declares "I'm going to check it * ... said it didn't bounce."
You pick up the ball, you look at it, and you drop. Or if you have questions, you pick up the ball, you look at it, and then you call an official.
But even after he picked up the ball he sticks his hand (with the ball) back in twice afterward. Why? To create an indentation perhaps? And then after he calls the official, he puts his hand and bacll back in the ground a third time for about 10 seconds. Again, why?