Reed fends off Fowler and Spieth for Masters crown
AUGUSTA, GA. — Patrick Reed won the Masters on Sunday, missing a chance to make history but fending off all challenges to secure his first victory in a major golf tournament.
Reed closed with a 1-under-par 71, his first round over 69 this week at Augusta National. He had a chance to become the first player to post four sub-70 scores in the tournament.
Reed still finished at 15-under, a stroke ahead of Rickie Fowler, who was also seeking his first win in a major event.
Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champion, started the final round nine strokes back but produced the best score of the day, an 8-underpar 64.
He leapt past everyone but Fowler and Reed, who went into the tournament with five PGA Tour victories and had not won on the tour since August 2016.
Reed had historically not fared well at Augusta National. In four prior appearances here, he missed the cut twice, never broke 70 and always finished outside the top 20. But this week, he put every part of his game together. Among other things, he played the par 5s in a total of 13-under.
Reed, 27, spent the final round in a pairing with Rory McIlroy, 28, whose bid to become the sixth man (and the first European) to complete a career grand slam will have to wait another year. McIlroy trailed Reed by three shots as they began their round, and he looked tight from the start. McIlroy played the front nine in 1-over and posted a 2over74 to finish at 9-under overall and in a tie for fifth.
Fowler, 29, began the day five strokes off the lead and closed with a 5-under-67, including a birdie at 18, for his eighth top-five finish in 33 majors.
McIlroy and Reed had separated themselves from the rest of the field through 54 holes, and their pairing Sunday emanated a match-play vibe reminiscent of their singles duel at the 2016 Ryder Cup.
Reed got the best of McIlroy that time, too, with a 1-up victory for the triumphant U.S. team.
Playing four groups ahead, Spieth, the first-round leader, raced into contention with a 5-under-31 on the front nine.
If anybody appreciates how tenuous a lead can be at Augusta National, it is Spieth, who led by five strokes heading into the back nine of the 2016 Masters.
His round unravelled when he hit two balls into the water on the par-3 12th and ended up with a quadruple-bogey 7. That opened the door for the eventual winner, Danny Willett of England, who had trailed by three at the day’s start.
Spieth, who also put the ball into the water on No. 12 in last
year’s final round, landed Sunday’s tee shot on the fringe of the green, then raised his arms in triumph and high-fived his caddie, Michael Greller.
Spieth then sank the putt to move to 11-under, three strokes behind Reed. With a tap-in birdie at the par-5 13th, Spieth whittled another stroke off Reed’s lead. At that point, Spieth was 7-under for his round.
The afternoon starters typically spend the morning watching television coverage of early starters to gauge how the course is playing.
What they saw had to make their eyes grow wide: Five of the first seven finishers, including three-time champion Phil Mickelson (67), broke par. Tony Finau, who dislocated his ankle Wednesday, made six consecutive birdies, beginning at No. 12, in his round of 66.
Tiger Woods also had his first round under par for the tournament, shooting a 69 to finish at 1-over for the tournament.
Paul Casey was 9-under through 15 holes before bogeying the last two holes for a 65, and Charley Hoffman set off a ground-shaking roar with an ace on the par-3 16th.
But as the afternoon wore on, most of the field fell away, and Fowler took his time before making a run.
That left Spieth and Reed to duke it out, though they were separated by so many holes it was as if they were shadow boxing.