Recovering Reed on the road again
Patrick Reed headed for the Tour Championship on Tuesday, but instead of stepping into a luxurious private jet, he took an unusual mode of transportation for a millionaire golfer.
He and his entourage hopped into a van and hit the highway for a 12-hour trip from his Houston home to Atlanta for the final event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, which begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club.
After missing the Northern Trust and BMW Championship, the first two qualifiers for the playoffs, because of bilateral pneumonia, Reed made the final event as the last of the 30 players in the field. He practiced Monday under the supervision of medical personnel and was given a “cautious light to go and play,” he told Golfweek Tuesday. However, flying was not an option because cabin pressurization can lower oxygen saturation rates on healing lungs.
“It’s like the old times driving from tournament to tournament with Justine (his wife),” Reed told Golfweek. “Love driving the country.”
Reed, who has had six top-10 finishes this season, has missed the last three tournaments. He tees off at 10:40 a.m. Thursday and says he plans “to give it my best shot.”
Winner of the Farmers Insurance Open in January, Reed ranks 19th in the world. His next concern beyond the Tour Championship is making the Ryder Cup team. He is 11th in the standings for the competition against Europe and will need Steve Stricker to use a captain’s pick on him if he is to play on the team for the fourth consecutive time.
Reed attempted to play in the Northern Championship but had to leave Jersey City on the eve of the Aug. 18 tournament to have an ankle injury examined and was hospitalized with bilateral interstitial pneumonia on Aug. 20.