USA TODAY International Edition
After rough times, Reed ‘ on track’
Health, equipment issues hampered star of Ryder Cup
A bit more than six months ago, Patrick Reed left the Ryder Cup as the new face of U. S. golf, the raging red, white and blue bull who led an inspired squad past Europe 17- 11 to win the coveted 4- pound, 17- inch gold trophy for the first time since 2008.
Reed went 3- 1- 1 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, including a rousing victory against Rory McIlroy in the leadoff singles match Sunday. Coupled with Reed’s win a month earlier in The Barclays, the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs, he looked primed to finally live up to his claim after winning the 2014 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship that he was one of the top five players in the world.
Since the Ryder Cup, however, no one has seen Reed’s face in contention on a Sunday in 14 worldwide events. He has notched two top- 10 finishes, wound up 43rd or worse seven times and missed his last two cuts, including in the Masters, where he shot 76- 77.
“I am disappointed,” Reed said Wednesday of his play since the Ryder Cup. Reed is at the Valero Texas Open played at TPC San Antonio in the city where he was born and where he was runnerup to Charley Hoffman last year.
Reed, who has five PGA Tour titles and reached a career high of No. 7 midway through last year in the world golf rankings, has dropped to No. 15. The man who seemingly willed his ball into the cup during the Ryder Cup suddenly couldn’t score. It turns out two significant barriers were getting the best of him.
The first was a physical ailment that has passed. Reed struggled with kidney stones for three months before the painful battle concluded in mid- March. He went on a diet and adopted a nutritional plan to combat the physical opponent while he waited and waited. And he kept playing golf.
“It was rough earlier this year,” Reed said. “There’s nothing worse for a guy to have kidney stones, because it is so painful. The good thing is that I didn’t think it really affected me too much on the golf course. I was able to handle the pain and stuff on and off the golf course.
“The problem is when you have episodes, it wears you down. You are in pain for four- and fivehour stretches. There isn’t a pain medication for that. You’re just chugging as much water as you can hoping for them to pass.”
During this time, Reed was dealing with another disorder — with his equipment. His lofts and lies were off by up to 21⁄2 degrees, he said. To the uninitiated, that’s a lot.
During this time he was working in a new driver, too. His con- centration was lost in the discomfort he felt in his stomach and saw coming off the end of his swings.
“The equipment’s been a struggle. I felt like I was swinging well, but I just couldn’t score,” Reed said. “When I was swinging well, all of a sudden I would look up and the ball is long and left. Consistently. I’m going, ‘ What is it, is it me, what’s going on?’ When you’re on the road as much as you are, you always think it’s you, it’s not the equipment. I hate using that as an excuse, but this was probably the one time that I could actually say my equipment wasn’t set up how it’s supposed to be for me.
“I was so focused on the equipment. My mind got away from scoring.”
His lofts and lies have been fixed, and he said his game is trending in the right direction. He also is confident that after hours of testing and swinging, the new driver will have a long stay in his golf bag.
“Now I feel we’re on track,” Reed said. “I’m feeling this week is my jump start for the year.”
And hopefully a march to residence as a top- five player in the world.