Reed was caught violating the rules during the third round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

The former Masters winner copped a two-stroke penalty after TV cameras caught him making improper swings in a waste bunker during Saturday's third round of the Tiger Woods-hosted event.

Reed was sanctioned for flattening out sand behind his ball with two practise swings, but insisted he didn't improve his lie despite conceding he had moved sand and therefore violated the rules.

Reed places his club behind the ball but says the camera angle is deceptive and his club looks closer than it actually is.

The world No.17 defended the practise swings by insisting camera angles made the violations look worse.

"I think with a different camera angle, they would have realised that, if it was from the side you would have seen that with the backswing, it was not improving the lie because it was far enough away from the golf ball," Reed said.

Sand gets pushed away, for the second time, by Reed.

But Smith, making his Presidents Cup debut at Royal Melbourne next week, refused to accept Reed's justification.

"If you make a mistake maybe once, you could maybe understand but to give a bit of a bulls**t response like the camera angle ... that's pretty up there (inexcusable)," Smith said after finishing his Australian Open campaign.

"I know Pat pretty good and he's always been nice to me, so I don't want to say anything bad about him but anyone's cheating the rules, I'm not up for that." – Cameron Smith.

Smith echoed his fellow Australian Marc Leishman in saying the crowds at Royal Melbourne are likely to sledge Reed.

"I hope so," Smith said. "I don't have any sympathy for anyone that cheats.

"I hope the crowd absolutely gives it to not only him, but everyone (on the American team) next week."

Smith did not question Reed's character, only his rules infraction in the Bahamas.

"I know Pat pretty good and he's always been nice to me, so I don't want to say anything bad about him but anyone's cheating the rules, I'm not up for that," Smith said.

Smith also warned crowds against crossing the line when needling Reed.

"I'm sure if it did get out of hand, I know I would definitely, and everyone on the International team, would tell the crowd to settle down a little bit," he said.

– Evin Priest, Australian Associated Press