Many thought that a season with six top-10 finishes at LIV Golf, including a victory, as well as a third-place finish at the Masters Tournament, could earn Patrick Reed one of the free picks for the American Ryder Cup team. Keegan Bradley decided to go in another direction, and Reed was quick to make a statement.
Unsurprisingly, Reed wasn’t exactly surprised by the American Ryder Cup team’s passing over.
“I knew it was going to be an outside shot just because of not being able to get points and things like that, just being on LIV,” Reed said in a recent interview about his chances of making the team.
Nevertheless, his message wasn’t exactly in words, but in actions. The nine-time PGA Tour winner played in this week’s DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship and outperformed the 11 members of the European Ryder Cup team in the field. Proving a point, they call it.
Reed carded rounds of 69, 68, 69, and a bogey-free final-round 66 at the Wentworth Club to finish with a 16-under 72-hole score. With that performance, he finished tied for third, just three strokes behind champion Alex Noren.
Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick were the European Ryder Cup players who came closest, finishing one stroke behind Reed. The American was three strokes ahead of Jon Rahm, four ahead of Ludvig Aberg and Rory McIlroy, eight ahead of Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood, 10 ahead of Justin Rose, 14 ahead of Robert MacIntyre, and 21 ahead of Rasmus Hojgaard. The last two missed the cut.
Naturally, the BMW PGA Championship, which is played in stroke play format, doesn’t exactly replicate the Ryder Cup, which is match play format. However, it’s still a measure of Reed’s current excellent form.
The Wentworth Club event was the 35-year-old’s sixth DP World Tour tournament this season (excluding major championships). His results have been remarkable: five cuts made and four top-10 finishes, including two third-place finishes.
Reed has an impressive Ryder Cup record. Although he has only participated in three editions (2014, 2016, and 2018), he has earned eight points in 12 matches, including wins in all of his individual matches. In both 2014 and 2016, he was the top performer for the American team (3.5 points in each edition), while in 2018, he hit rock bottom with just one point in three matches.
More Golf: How Tiger Woods’ Guidance Fueling Keegan Bradley Ahead of Ryder Cup
Read the full article here
