USA TODAY International Edition
Reed charges up Open leaderboard
ERIN, WIS. Captain America showed up at the U. S. Open.
Patrick Reed, the inspirational, raging heroic bull for the USA in the Ryder Cup, emerged from a slumber Saturday with a 7- underpar 65 in the third round of the national championship. Wearing a pair of blue slacks from his Ryder Cup wardrobe and drawing from chants of U- S- A, U- S- A, U- S- A, Reed vaulted up to the first page of the leaderboard heading into the final round, four shots out of the lead at 208.
“He looked like himself today,” said his wife, Justine, who is a constant companion for her husband on the practice range and the golf course. “It’s been a while since I saw him put all aspects of his game together. We’ve had some weeks where his putting was on but his iron play or his driving was off. Everything just wasn’t clicking at the same time. Today everywhere clicked.”
Especially his putter. Reed needed just 23 putts to become Patrick Reed again, not the guy who hasn’t had a top- 10 finish in his last 14 starts on the PGA Tour. The man who has five Tour titles missed three cuts during that stretch and finished north of 50th five times. “I went through a long stretch there where I was searching,” Reed said. “I knew there was some good golf inside, and I just had to get it out.”
While Reed, 26, won’t make excuses, he dealt with two significant barriers that put him off kilter for months. First, he sorted through equipment issues. And he dealt with kidney stones for three months this year. 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. The issue has subsided, as he hasn’t passed a kidney stone for two months.
The massive Erin Hills course has helped Reed turn the corner, too. With its variety of slopes, elevation changers, hills and runoffs, creativity is in demand from the first tee onward.
“I’ve tried so hard to do something or be so perfect on a golf swing or something like that, and because of that I just became too mechanical. I come around a place like this where you have a lot of slopes, a lot of kind of runoffs, you’re allowed to be creative,” said Reed, who was 3- 1- 1 in the Ryder Cup as the Americans whipped Europe 17- 11 last fall. “It allows me to get out of my way and just start hitting golf shots.”
Reed also changed up his approach. He had played 13 majors heading into Wisconsin without one top- 10 finish. He and his team, which includes Justine and her brother, Kessler, who is Reed’s caddie, sat down and tried to figure out what was wrong.
“Every time I got to the majors, I worked too hard Monday through Wednesday. And so by Saturday I was tired. And then also I was living and dying by every golf shot, every putt and everything,” Reed said.
“Coming into this year I was just like it’s another golf tournament. Show up. Do what you do on a normal event and just play golf. Because at the end of the day, if I go out and play the best I can and am happy with how I play, the results will take care of itself. That’s the kind of mind- set I am going with into tomorrow.”