Patrick Reed Finally Breaks Through in Hong Kong
Patrick Reed became another in a long line of LIV players who have broken through on the world stage.
Sitting on nine professional wins, the 34-year-old's career was in a stalling pattern since he left the PGA Tour and joined LIV Golf in 2022.
With his last win at the Insurance Open in 2021, he had struggled to get over the finish line on top until until his stellar win over Australian Ben Campbell, the defending champion, on Sunday in the Hong Kong Open.
“Nothing like coming to a place that I know pretty well and love the golf course,” said Reed about Hong Kong Golf Club. “I love how it makes me think about golf shots and you have to be creative around this place. So, to be able to come out and play the way like I did on the weekend. I mean, it always helps shooting 59 yesterday, but the biggest thing, the hardest part, was today.”
Going into the final round, Reed owned a three-shot lead going over Nitithorn Thippong of Thailand and India’s Rashid Khan after his third-round 59 that included a start of five consecutive birdies and six in the first seven holes.
Patrick Reed on the second tee during the second round of LIV Golf Mayakoba.
Fran Caffrey | Golffile
Reed would close out the third round with five birdies over the last six holes to record only the second 59 in Asian Tour history. Because of preferred lies, the score would be unofficial, but it gave Reed a nice cushion going into the final round.
“It was kind of one (of) those days,” said Reed. “I got up, I felt a little tight but felt ready to go and got out here and had probably one of the worst warmups ever. I looked at my caddie, and he goes, hey, a warmup is a warmup, let’s go out and just play golf. He goes, some of your best rounds have come from a poor warmup.”
The poor warmup did little to curb Reed's ability to score. Over the last 36 holes, he recorded 17 birdies and two bogeys when the tournament was decided.
The win moved Reed from 164th to 128th in the world rankings.
“Kind of going out there and forgetting about the 59 and going out, even though I had a three-shot lead, to try to expand on that, and the goal was to go out there and make a couple of birdies early, get up on top, so then on the back nine I could just hit fairways and middle of the greens,” Reed said. “When I was able to birdie 13 there, then it just kind of got into really boring golf, which led to two mistakes. But, you know, the last one, I was not ever going to take that on.”
