Reed takes 1shot lead at FedEx Cup opener
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Patrick Reed handled the strong gusts and a drier golf course at Liberty National with a 4under 67 that gave him a oneshot lead over Abraham Ancer of Mexico going into the final round of The Northern Trust.
Reed has not won since the 2018 Masters, a drought of 39 tournaments worldwide. He won this FedEx Cup playoffs opener three years ago when it was at Bethpage, and it put him on the Ryder Cup team.
Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth, playing in the final group, faltered. Johnson bogeyed four of his
last six holes for a 74 to fall five shots behind. Spieth had another rough Saturday, also shooting a 74 that cost him in his bid to salvage his season with a trip to the FedEx Cup finale.
Reed knew that something needed to change.
Thirteen months had passed since his breakthrough win at the Masters, which was supposed to be a launchpad for his career. But Reed hadn’t won since. In fact, it had been nearly a year since his last topfive finish.
So in May, after the PGA Championship, Reed took a hard look at his game.
“I just kind of sat down and I took a reset,” Reed said. “Kind of took three weeks off and shut the clubs down for a little bit. Came back and just kind of reflected and looked at: ‘OK what’s going on? Where am I?’ And, you know, we were a lot closer than we anticipated.”
Reed began to prove it through the first two rounds of The Northern Trust, before taking the lead in the third round on Saturday. He fired his second consecutive 6underpar 65 on Friday to get to 10under par, two shots behind 36hole leader Johnson.
Reed is one of only two players in the field who had yet to make a bogey at Liberty National, which was no easy task on Friday as the wind picked up in the afternoon and storms rolled through, delaying play for about 30 minutes.
It’s just the latest sign that Reed might be on the verge of reclaiming his place as one of the best in the world.
Reed hasn’t missed a cut since shutting it down after the PGA Championship. He’s finished 25th or better in each of his last five events, including a top10 and a top5. And he’s broken 70 in eight of his last nine rounds.
It all started with that reset after the PGA Championship. Shutting it down was a drastic, almost desperate measure for Reed because he loves playing golf, especially in tournaments.
Many players are lamenting golf ’s new compressed schedule and are eager to shut it down for a couple of months after the Tour Championship later this month. Reed? He plans on playing 10 more events before the end of the year.
But taking the break in May gave him some muchneeded perspective. And when he realized that things weren’t as bad as they felt, it allowed him to attack his swing issues with confidence.
“Just get back to what we do,” Reed said. “Practicing hard and playing hard and continue grinding through it.”
Reed knows this is a good time to start playing well again, because so much is on the line.
The last time Reed played at Liberty National was in 2017 at the Presidents Cup, where the U.S. Team dominated the International Team. It’s something he’s thought about over and over again this week.
And he knows that playing well could vault him in the standings before automatic qualifying closes in two weeks — Reed is currently 17th; the top eight will qualify automatically for December’s Presidents Cup in Australia.
“I think it’s a little bit more on my mind this week just because of where we are and our background, Statue of Liberty in the background, and in 2017 we played here,” Reed said. “So you know, it is on my mind a little bit, but really, you know, I just try to stay focused and try to continue playing some solid golf because if I play good golf, then that will take care of itself, and you know at the end of the day, you have to go out and shoot low numbers, play good golf and climb the rankings as much as you can.”
Reed has felt confident he has the swing to contend for a couple of months now. But he hasn’t been good enough on the greens.
“It’s just the putter’s been a little flat,” Reed said.