A star was born last year in the Wyndham Championship after 21-year-old Jordan Spieth closed with a 5-under-par 65 to force a playoff with Patrick Reed.
Spieth claimed his first PGA Tour victory a month earlier in the John Deere Classic, but this time it was Reed who won for the first time in his career with a miracle shot on the second playoff hole at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
Reed, 23 at the time, won twice more since, including the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in March.
“I knew in my heart I could win, but the thing was actually doing it,” said Reed, who also won the Humana Challenge in January. “To pull it off and get the job done the way we did, it means a lot.
“It definitely showed I have the ability to play great golf, and if I get in that position again, I can go back on what we did and do it again.”
It seemed there was no way Reed could win last year at Sedgefield when he nearly hit his tee shot out of bounds on the second extra hole and Spieth knocked his approach from the middle of the fairway to within 10 feet of the hole.
However, Reed choked up on his 7-iron and hit his second shot off some pine needles with a baseball swing and sent the ball under a tree branch and toward the green, where it stopped 7 feet from the hole.
After Spieth missed his putt, Reed knocked his in and was a PGA Tour winner.
“It was the best shot of my life, that’s for sure,” Reed said.
Spieth added, “(It was) one of the best shots I’ve ever witnessed.”
Reed’s play carried over into this year in the Humana and then the WGC-Cadillac Championship, where he beat what is always one of the best fields of the season on the PGA Tour.
However, his wife/caddie Justine was about to give birth to their first child, which may or may not played a role as Patrick subsequently struggled with his game. He missed the cut six times in 10 events, including his first appearances in the Masters and the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
“There’s some things I’m working on,” said Reed, whose game seemed to be coming back when he tied for fourth in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. “Last year at the Wyndham, it seemed like all parts of my game were clicking at the same time.
“Recently, it seems that one thing is off here or there. One day, I’ll hit my tee shots really well and my putting will be off. Another day, I’m hitting my tee shots poorly and I’m putting well. Once I get everything clicking together, we’ll have a chance to win again.”
After winning at Doral, Reed raised some eyebrows when he said he felt his ability put him in the top five players in the world.
It made for some interesting headlines, but didn’t faze him.
“I thought it was pretty funny,” said Reed, taking it all in stride. “It was interesting to see how much of basically a stir that got up in the media. You know, when it comes down to it, that’s what I believe in.
“And that’s how I see myself as a player, but you have to have that belief in yourself. If you don’t, then you’re not going to play like it, and you’re definitely not going to be contending on Sundays.”
The Wyndham Championship, formerly the Greater Greensboro Open, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this week, making it the sixth-oldest tournament on the PGA Tour, not counting the majors.
Sam Snead captured the event in its first year in 1938 at Sedgefield, designed by legendary Donald Ross. Although the tournament has been played on several courses in Greensboro, mostly it has been played at what is considered a Ross classic.
Charlie Sifford competed in the 1961 tournament, the first time an African-American was permitted to play in a PGA-sponsored event in the South. He finished fourth, enduring a barrage of racial slurs from the white gallery.
Snead set a record by becoming the first player to win the same event on the PGA Tour eight times, a record since equaled by Tiger Woods.
Reed can make some history of his own this week by becoming the first player to win the title two years in a row since Snead in 1955 and 1956.
Not surprisingly, he thinks he can.
“You feel comfortable when you come back to a place where you’ve won before,” Reed said. “I had a great game plan last year, and it obviously worked. I’m not changing that game plan.”
It worked once, why not again?
–Story courtesy of The Sports Xchange, TSX Golf Editor Tom LaMarre
