REED’S EYES ON A RORY REPEAT
Captain America to lead the way
PATRICK REED is up for a Ryder Cup rematch with Rory McIlroy.
The American beat Europe’s superstar in an electric opening singles clash in Hazeltine to pave the way for a crushing home victory two years ago.
And the Masters champion, 28, is ready to lead the United States to victory by defeating McIlroy again this week.
“I will take playing him – I’m 1 and 0,” he said.
“Last time it was a very important part of the match, with us having the lead going into Sunday, and so I told the captain that I wanted to go first, I wanted Rory.
“The good thing is we both played some really, really good golf and we both wanted it really badly and to be able to come out on top and pave the way for the team to go out and finish the job that afternoon was a lot of fun.”
The USA team, who arrived in Paris yesterday, have not won a Ryder Cup on foreign soil for 25 years.
“Yeah, we gotta change that, we gotta change that,” added Reed.
“I don’t know why we haven’t won it overseas.
“I would have been three years old the last time. This is my third one and last time was way more focused than we were in 2014. I felt like the guys were playing better and there really was a purpose on going out and playing the best golf they could.
“I feel like our focus is here, it’s just how it was last time.”
Reed shushed the Gleneagles crowd on his Ryder Cup debut in 2014 and signs autographs as ‘Captain America’.
Now the USA’s fiery talisman admits his passion will make him a marked man in France – and he is up for the fight.
“Because of what I’ve done at the past two Ryder Cups, I would think that there’s definitely a target on my back, they’re definitely going to come for me,” he said. “It’s not hard to put friendship aside for a week.
“All these guys are your friends, you know every one of them, but when you go in that one week, they’re the enemy.
“They go out, you look at them and you try to shove them into the wall a little bit. You try to get underneath their skin, kind of mess with them a little bit for fun and games.
“I think it’s the one event we get to actually let loose and we can pry, poke and do whatever we want to the guys and we all know it’s part of the fun and part of going out and playing.”