Woodlands’ Reed masters the Masters
Woodlands resident repels challenges from Spieth, Fowler to win first major
Patrick Reed of The Woodlands had plenty of fist-pumping moments on Sunday, when he held off challenges from three players to win the Masters at Augusta, Ga. It was the sixth PGA Tour title and first major for Reed.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — How do you like Patrick Reed now?
Say what you will about the golfer who brings out certain visceral emotions in the crowd, the kind that often require a pro wrestler in a mask to evoke. Both at home and abroad.
Bring out all the media dredges and let them work long into the night to unearth the venal sins of his youth and the downed limbs of his family tree. It's all there if you would care to pick through the detritus.
But put Reed on a golf course, and you better recognize the utter insignificance of the clutter when all that matters to him is to trample any other player in his line of sight.
Might be time to reassess this guy.
Patrick Reed just might be as good as he thinks he is.
Playing with a lead, never losing it, wearing out the faltering and the hard-charging alike, Reed won the Masters on Sunday employing the kind of steel he has used to build his reputation as a Ryder Cup hammer.
Reed shot his first over-60 round of the week Sunday — 71, the highest final-round score by a Masters champion since Angel Cabrera in 2009 — but the resident of The Woodlands was 15 under par for the week and one stroke better than Rickie Fowler, who is just a second-place finish at the PGA Championship from a runner-up career Grand Slam.
What became of the fellow paired with Reed on Sunday, the one going for the actual career Slam, the one who a day earlier had suggested all the pressure was on his playing partner? Rory McIlroy was a hot mess. He shot 74 and was invisible by the turn. His putter betrayed him — McIlroy finished last in the field in strokes gained putting Sunday (where Reed was third) — and nobody gains ground here without that particular walking stick.
So much for the whole match-play Masters scenario.
It was up to those a lap down after Saturday's third round to provide the necessary Sundayat-the-Masters tingle.
Fowler had begun the day five back of Reed. By the time he put together his by-the-numbers birdie on No. 18 one group ahead of Reed — fairway, 7 feet, Yahtzee — that made it imperative for Reed to par the last hole to win. This Reed did by sinking a nervy little 3-footer.
“I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” said Reed, known as “Captain America” for his Ryder Cup play. “It's just a way of God basically saying, ‘Let's see if you have it.’ Everyone knows you have it physically with the talent. But do you have it mentally? Can you handle the ups and downs throughout the round?”
Said Fowler with a grin: “Glad I at least made the last one. Make him earn it.”
The worst golf handicapper ever just might be Jordan Spieth, who made the grave mistake of underestimating himself. As he left the property Saturday, nine strokes between himself and the leader, he said: “I get to play one of my only stress-free rounds ever at Augusta National (Sunday). I get to enjoy the walk.”
“Well, the first few holes were stress-free,” he said at the close of the golfing business day Sunday.
Thank you, Spieth, for making the afternoon so much more intriguing. He came out of East Nowhere to send a great charge through Sunday's back nine. He had conquered his great nemesis, the par-3 12th, sinking a 27foot birdie putt from just off the green. And when he made another snake on the par-3 16th, from 33 feet, he pulled into a momentary tie with Reed.
“I almost pulled off the impossible,” said Spieth, who finished at 13 under for the tournament, two back of Reed. The 2015 Masters champion, and twice a runner-up, shot 64, tying his lowest round at Augusta National. So it was tough to find fault in a closing bogey that needed to be a birdie in order to trouble Reed.
Wearing pink on the orders of his clothing sponsor rather than the Sunday red he had always worn in honor of Tiger Woods, Reed migt have sartorially clashed with the green jacket. “It works,” Reed insisted. His game, without a doubt, suited the jacket nicely.
“You know, it's just kind of one of those things that you expect
trying to go win your first major, you know that people are going to make runs and it's not going to be easy,” Reed said. “You're going to have to go out and play a good round of golf and shoot under par.”
His day began inauspiciously, with a sloppy shot from a greenside bunker on No. 1 that eventually cost him a bogey. And on the par-5 second — he had been devouring the par 5s all week, going 13 under on the first 12 he played — he put up a beige par.
Meanwhile, McIlroy looked over a 4-foot putt for eagle that would have vaulted him into a tie for the lead. He missed, providing a definition for the unlikely phrase “bad birdie.”
With all the commotion in front of him, with Fowler and Spieth whipping up the populace, Reed's strength was in how he played the closing seven holes.
Taking bogey on No. 11, Reed went 2 under the rest of the way.
His par on 17 that he rescued from a tee shot in the trees was the definition of the phrase “very good par.”
And a two-putt from above the hole on No. 18 — “the fastest putt on the golf course,” Reed said — confirmed his place as a major champion.
That Reed listened to louder cheers for other players all day didn't matter.
“That's another thing that just kind of played into my hand,” he said, needing no one's cheers.
Where once he was way premature in declaring himself a top-five player in the world back in 2014, those words now just ring as prophesy.
“I stand by my comments,” he said, with the green jacket around him. “I feel like that I've played some golf that I need to play in order to get to where I want to be — and that's to be the best golfer in the world. The way you're going to do that is perform in these big events and to win these big events.”
So, really, how do you like Patrick Reed now?