Is Reed ready to be major player again?
2018 Masters champ in hunt in Macau; Stray Shots: Post-Players observations
Patrick Reed is searching for his second win since leaving legacy tours (Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour)
When Patrick Reed won the 2018 Masters, it was unclear if that was a one-off or a prelude to more major titles.
Looking back, Reed has shown little of the game that beat Rory McIlroy head to head in the final pairing and prevailed over an all-star cast of top-five finishers: Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Cam Smith and McIlroy.
While Reed won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2013, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’18, ’19, ’20 and ’21, since jumping to LIV Golf in June 2022, the winning has been curtailed. Reed’s lone victory since leaving the PGA Tour came in the 2024 Link Hong Kong Open last fall on the Asian Tour.
It was an impressive win, including a 59 in the third round that sparked Reed to a three-shot victory over New Zealand’s Ben Campbell.
However, with five top-10s in 24 major starts since the 2018 Masters victory, Reed’s major record has been more pedestrian than competitive.
Even on LIV this year, Reed has shown little form to get him or his fans excited.
Now 34 — which for most is still in the sweet spot of their competitive careers — Reed may be a sleeper with the major season just around the corner.
With a stress-free 63 in the first round of the International Series Macau, Reed is showing what he hasn’t shown this year on LIV with his only top 10 two weeks ago on the same Hong Kong course he won on last year.
Is Reed’s opening round at Macau Golf and Country Club a harbinger of a successful run or an anomaly?
“It was a steady day,” Reed said after posting his lowest round this year. “I wasn’t feeling that great when I first got up. Mainly my body was a little tight, but it loosened up nicely on the range.”
Reed’s lead is slim, just one shot over Filipino Miguel Tabuena, American Peter Uihlein and Finland’s Kalle Samooja.
“You know, got off to good a start,” Reed said of the bogey-free round. “Was hitting my golf ball how I wanted to. Was hitting pretty solid. I was kind of getting it out in front of me where I wanted, where I was looking, and I was leaving myself in the right spot. So, I felt like that was the biggest thing today.”
Stray Shots: Post-Players observations
By Peter Kaufman
1. Rory McIlroy: The Northern Irishman is so damn good even he cannot always get in his own way. Battling wind and rain, rinsing tee shots, losing a late final-round three-shot lead and just one more revolution of J.J. Spaun putt away from losing in regulation, McIlroy took advantage of his good fortune and cruised in the three-hole Monday playoff courtesy of Spaun rinsing his tee ball on 17.