Patrick

Reed

Patrick Reed was not always the powerful striker of the ball he is today. He has told the story of his first memory of swinging a plastic club and hitting the family dog.

He ran into the house “freaking out”, thinking he’d killed the dog. Moments later she was at the door with the ball in her mouth wanting to play with a look that Reed described as “That’s all you’ve got?”

Golf was an escape for the young Patrick. He told Golf Digest in a 2021 interview: “It was… the thing I loved most. Put on my headphones, practice and get into my own world. The game seemed easy to me until I started playing up in age groups when I was 10. 

Playing against 17-year-olds in AJGA when I was 13, getting beaten up and outdriven by 50 to 60 yards, it forced me to look for nuances to keep up, and that’s why my short game and shot-shaping became what they are. 

“I moved around a lot when I was a teenager, and golf was what was constant.”

By the time Texas-born Reed was 16, he was leading University High School in Baton Rouge to the Louisiana state championship in 2006 – a feat the school repeated in 2007.

He earned AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) honors in 2005, 2006, and 2007, and played college golf for the University of Georgia and Augusta State University. He helped the latter to NCAA Division I titles in 2010 and 2011, and reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Amateur.

Patrick Reed was 20 when he joined the professional ranks, straight after that second NCAA title. He played at first on the Nationwide Tour and increasingly on the PGA Tour, and secured his card to play at the top level in 2013.

That was the year things really started to take off for the young Texan. He secured his first PGA Tour win by beating Jordan Spieth in a playoff at the Wyndham Championship.

The following year, he scorched to victory in the Humana Challenge thanks to a first three rounds of 63-63-63. That was followed by success at the WGC-Cadillac Championship, and in early 2015 Reed won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Reed was just the fourth player in two decades to win four PGA Tour titles before his 25th birthday. The others were Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Sergio Garcia.

Patrick Reed’s first serious run at a major championship title came in 2017, when he got to within a shot of the lead on the back nine of the final day at the PGA Championship.

Reed had to settle for a tie for second, two shots behind winner Justin Thomas but he had shown his major caliber.

The next spring at the first major of 2018, he ascended to the top step of the podium by winning the Masters at Augusta.

Reed took a two-shot lead at halfway thanks to a superb second round of 66, and increased the margin to three the following day with a 67 highlighted by eagles at the 13th and 15th holes.

He opened his final round with a bogey, but bounced back and held a four-shot lead at halfway. In the end, his closing 71 was enough to hold off charges by Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, giving Reed his first Green Jacket by a single stroke.

As he looked back on his final stroke with the putter, he said: “When I made that 3-footer, it was like a weight had been lifted. I’d always wanted to win a major, win at Augusta. It was just like, ‘I did it. I did it!’”

Victory in a major confirmed Patrick Reed’s place in golfing history, but he will also be long remembered for his contribution to the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Reed qualified for the contest for the first time in 2014, and formed a powerful fourball partnership with fellow rookie Jordan Spieth. The pair won matches on the first two days, and Reed followed up with a singles win over Henrik Stenson to finish as the top scorer for the U.S. with 3.5 points.

It wasn’t enough to win the famous trophy, but two years later it was a different story at Hazeltine. Reed, who had by now been dubbed “Captain America” by fans for his intense, inspirational performances, teamed up with Spieth again to give the U.S. an early lead they never relinquished.

Reed rounded off his contribution with a superlative singles victory over Rory McIlroy and was again the top scorer for the U.S., with 3.5 points, as his team regained the Cup.

Patrick Reed continued to play consistently excellent golf after his Masters win. He claimed the 2019 Northern Trust, and his second WGC event when he won in Mexico in 2020.

In June 2020 he achieved his highest world ranking (No. 6) and he won again in early 2021 at the Farmers Insurance Open in California.

Reed was one of the earliest recruits to LIV Golf, which he joined in June 2022.

The strong commitment to team play shone brightly as Reed’s team, 4Aces GC, won four of the first five events on the LIV Golf League in 2022, then claimed the season-ending team championship.

That tremendous form continued for the 4Aces in 2023, as they topped the season-long team standings and tied for second at the Team Championship.

Reed has embraced the different tempo of LIV Golf, with time off between tournaments contrasting with the “54-hole sprint” nature of the events that means you have to “turn it on immediately” once the action gets under way.

Not many professional golfers have their wife caddie for them. But that was the arrangement for Patrick Reed after he married Justine Karain in 2012.

Justine was on his bag two weeks before the wedding at Q-School, where Reed admits he was close to quitting after two average opening rounds. She persuaded him to carry.

“Long story short, I keep climbing the board, and four rounds later I get my card on the number," Reed said. “I’d never had anyone believe in me like that. I’m glad it happened that way. When you find the right person to support you, the sky’s the limit.”

The couple live in The Woodlands, in Reed’s native Texas, with their son and daughter.

It is hard to square the fiercely competitive image of Patrick Reed with the easy-going, team-oriented family man he is.

The drive is there, the intensity that inspired him to Masters glory, nine professional wins, two appearances for the USA at the Olympics, and those unforgettable Ryder Cup moments.

But there is something more. He said: “I live and die by every shot, every round, every week that I’ve always played… when I had my first little one, it really put life in perspective.

“This is my job, it’s what I do but it’s not who I am. Being a loving husband, a loving father, a great person, is way more important than going out and shooting low scores on a golf course.”