Reed, English are familiar foes

Patrick Reed and Harris English have been in a somewhat similar position before, but not with this much money at stake and certainly not with several of the world’s top golfers nipping at their spiked heels.

But Sunday, in the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind, the 23-yearold English, who led this $5.7 million PGA Tour event through 36 holes, finds himself one shot back of Shawn Stefani. Reed, 22, in his third year on the PGA Tour, is only four shots off the pace after firing a 6-under 64, the best round of the day.

Two years ago, English and Reed battled one another in match play in the finals of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships in Stillwater, Okla. Reed defeated English, 2-and-1, to give Augusta State the national title over the University of Georgia for its second consecutive title. “Harris is a great player, but it was one of those weeks that I was on,” Reed said. “I’ve played a lot of golf against him. He is truly a great player and he’s playing great right now for sure. I’d love to post a good number (Sunday) and give him a little scare.”

English had similar praise for Reed’s game, but, understandably, still hasn’t gotten completely over the loss.

“He beat me 2-and-1,” English said. “I hated that we lost, but it was a fun experience. It was awesome. We had such a good team.”

COMEBACK OF THE DAY

If Stefani manages to win the FESJC it may be because of how he patiently recovered from his worst hole of the first three rounds.

Stefani hit his tee shot into the water on the par-3 11th hole, victimized by a poor choice in clubs.

“I made two errors today and obviously one was on 11,” Stefani said. “My f irst mistake was the wind. It should have been coming off the left and in and for some reason there was a gust that kind of came up from behind me to the right.

“So I was t hinking I could get a wedge to the front of the green or in that front middle part. I thought a 9 (-iron) would be too much if I was downwind.

“I chose the wedge and I actually hit the shot very well (but) in midflight a gust came up and knocked it in the water. I went on from there to make a seven.” How did he recover? “I just told myself to be patient. I hit some good shots on 12, made a good par there, and hit a great shot into 14 and made birdie. The birdie on 14 is where I got more calm because after making a 7 on a par-3 it’s hard to bounce back. To do that was nice.”

FIRST FOR EVERYTHING

Eric Meierdierks recorded the tournament’s first hole-in-one by acing the par-3 eighth hole. He used a 9-iron.

“It was a good number, about 150 or 151 yards,” Meierdierks said. “I’ve made holes-in-one before, but that was the first one I’ve ever made in competition. I was trying to help my putting stats.”

Meierdierks, who is at 7-under 203 and five shots behind the leader, used the ace to shoot 4-under 31 on the front side.

He f inished with a 4-under 66, his third round in the 60s. To reach Geoff Calkins call 901-5292364, or email calkins @commercialappeal.com.