Reed foils foils challenge from major stars for title

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Standing on the tee box preparing to play what he hoped would be his final hole in a Masters triumph, Patrick Reed heard a roar at Augusta National’s 18th green.

Obscured by the trees on the dogleg hole, he had to guess what happened.

There were two players in the pairing ahead: Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm.

Reed checked the leaderboards incessantly on the day, as he does every round. After a par save at 17, he knew he led Fowler by two. Four shots behind, Rahm was of no concern.

It had to be a Fowler birdie that caused such ferocious cheers, Reed concluded, because nothing about Sunday in the

Masters is easy when you’re the target in a shockingly pink shirt.

“I knew,” Reed said, “it was going to be a dogfight. It was just a way of God basically saying, ‘Let’s see if you have it. Everyone knows you have the talent, but do you have it mentally? Can you handle the ups and downs throughout the round?’ ”

The answer is that few in the 82 editions of the Masters have withstood and prevailed against such an onslaught of talent in the tournament’s final hours.

Fowler birdied the last hole to shoot 5-under-par 67. Jordan Spieth fired an incredible 64 – equaling the lowest score in a Masters final round — and came from nine shots back to forge a tie on the back nine. And yet the 27-year-old Reed never truly seemed in trouble.

Even when Reed needed a par at the 18th with two putts, and had a dicey first roll from above the hole, he looked like he was meant to be in the moment.

He coaxed in the final 4-foot putt and pumped both fists, finishing off a 71 to become the fourth straight golfer to make the Masters his first major win.

With a 15-under total, Reed beat his U.S. Ryder Cup teammates — Fowler and Spieth – by one and two shots, respectively. The three immediate losers rank among the top six in the world. Reed entered the week at No. 24 and moved up to 11th with the victory.

Only seventh-ranked Rory McIlroy truly faltered, shooting 74 while playing with Reed in the final group to finish tied for fifth at 9-under.

“We did everything we could,” Fowler said. “And Patrick went out and outplayed all of us this week, and he earned it. So, you’ve got to give it to him.”

Reed, who has always exuded a supreme confidence in himself, admitted on Sunday evening while sitting in his new green jacket, “It was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be.

“The way those guys played towards the end … having to go shoot under par on my final round of your first major to win, it was hard. It was awesome and satisfying to make the clutch putts I did on the back nine.”

Reed made only four birdies on the day after he had 18 in the previous three rounds, along with two eagles. But his two on the back nine were huge – a 22-footer at the par-3 12th and an 8-footer at the par 4 14th.

Spieth, the 2015 Masters champ who now has four top-3 finishes here in five starts, was so convinced he had no chance at the outset that he vowed and supposedly succeeded in not looking at the leaderboard all day. “Honest to God,” he said.

“With eight people ahead of me starting the day, to get that much help and shoot a fantastic round was nearly impossible,” Spieth said. “But I almost pulled off the impossible.”

Fowler’s charge was nearly as remarkable. He was 1-over for the day through seven holes, but closed with birdies on six of the last 11.

“I saw Jordan was off and running today,” Fowler said of his good friend. “So to see that was kind of a kick in the butt.”