When Patrick Reed drove down Magnolia Lane on Saturday, he joked that he wanted to put his car in reverse and drive through again. It was a fitting metaphor for the one-time Augusta resident and former Georgia Bulldog. His life, these past several years, has been a series of do-overs.
And they’ve all been turning out quite well.
Reed enters the Masters this week as one of 24 rookies in the field. But more is expected from Reed than any other.
He effectively is the hottest player in the field. He has won three times since recording his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship last fall. He has added the Humana Challenge and the WGC-Cadillac Championship since New Year’s Day and enters the week ranked No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings and No. 23 in the world.
In a nutshell, Reed is doing everything that always has been expected of him.
“It feels like a dream come true,” said Reed, whose parents, Bill and Jeannette Reed, live in Augusta. “When I was real young, all I ever dreamed of was playing at Augusta for a green jacket. … To have a dream come true and be here as a professional playing my first Masters feels like I’m still in a dream.”
That dream remained intact in 2008 when Reed arrived at the University of Georgia as its most ballyhooed freshman. He came in as Junior British Open champion, a U.S. Amateur qualifier and two-time state champ. He was the proverbial can’t-miss kid.
But things began to unravel soon after Reed arrived at UGA. There was an arrest on campus for underage drinking and using a fake ID in November of his first semester there. He went AWOL another time, telling his parents that he would be away with the team and telling his team that he would be away with family. He was busted like every high school junior who hatched a similar scheme.
There were some team chemistry issues, too. By the spring, Reed was jettisoned from the program.
“It just wasn’t a very good fit, and we decided to part ways and find him somewhere else to go,” Georgia coach Chris Haack said. “But there was no doubt he was a super talent.”
The Bulldogs knew that when they brought in Reed, and they were painfully reminded of it after he left.
Showered with offers from major programs such as Florida and Wake Forest, Reed settled instead on returning to Augusta to live at home with his parents and play for Augusta State (now Georgia Regents University). The former Division II school recently had climbed into the Division I ranks in golf, and Reed liked the small-college feel.
It proved a good decision. He led the Jaguars to back-to-back national championships in 2010-11. The second one came at the expense of the Bulldogs.
Facing off on the Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla., the national championship came down to a match-play final between Georgia’s Harris English and Reed. On the par-4 17th hole, English hit his approach shot in the water and Reed knocked on green and closed for an easy two-putt par. Reed beat English 2-and-1, and the Jaguars won 3-2 to claim their second consecutive title.
“That’s when I stopped believing in karma,” Haack joked.
If there is some animosity between the Bulldogs and their expatriate, none will admit it in a public setting.
“We’re friendly,” said English, who also is in this week’s field and with a No. 4 FedEx Cup ranking, also is playing rather well. “He’s extremely competitive. Coming down the stretch, he’s got eyes of steel. There’s no backing down in him, and it’s been that way a long time. I played a lot of junior golf with him, and he’s just gotten better and better. He’s a closer.”
A lot of things seem to have smoothed out in Reed’s life. He’s married now to Justine — who caddied for him until recently — and they’re expecting their first child soon. Their home base now is Spring, Texas, and they’re living the life of a touring pro.
“Personal-wise, I feel like I’m maturing as a person,” Reed said. “I mean, I’m doing everything in my power to be the kind of person that I want to be and grow into that.
And once again, there are great expectations for Reed in golf. No one fans those flames more than he does.
In a TV interview during what turned out to be a winning weekend at Doral last month, Reed set off a Twitter fire when he referred to himself as one of the top five players in the world. It’s a comment for which he still refuses to apologize.
“I believe in my comments, and that’s the point where I want to get,” he said this week. “I’m just going to keep controlling what I can control, keep trying to play real good and consistent golf and, hopefully … I’ll get to that point.”
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