There’s a little less of Patrick Reed to love — or not — at this Masters.
Reed reported to the champions locker room at Augusta National — his nameplate there alongside that of the late 1946 champion Herman Keiser — at least a dozen pounds lighter than a year ago. Should he become the first repeat winner since Tiger Woods (2001-02), there may be some alterations required on one well-worn green jacket. Tailors are standing by.
“I lost a little because tonight, I knew what kind of menu I was putting out there,” Reed smiled, referring to the Masters champions’ dinner he was hosting Tuesday. “So, I need to leave a little room to be able to fit back into it.” With a menu that includes ribeye steak, mac and cheese, creamed spinach and corn crème brulee, everybody may be leaving the event with pants unbuckled, like grandpa at Thanksgiving.
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Yes, the player who has been described as “kind of like the lovable villain,” by ESPN’s Curtis Strange is capable of a light moment.
The one who won this thing last year while listening to far louder cheers for more popular pursuers like Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth can play to the room a little, too.
He may be a fellow who has made alienation — from former teammates during a brief stay at Georgia, from all of Europe come Ryder Cup time, from even his parents who live just six miles from Augusta National, but were excluded from last year’s victory — a standing theme to his complicated story. But that doesn’t mean he’s still working on perfecting that particular trait.
In reality, the weight loss was, he said, “Something that I thought would help me for recovery purposes, and also just to stay strong from beginning of the year to the end of the year.”
Whether the state of Reed’s game is as healthy is a matter of debate.
Reed has said repeatedly that he feels better about his golf entering this Masters than he did a year ago. But where are the results since his Masters breakthrough to actually justify the confidence?
He was a factor at the ’18 U.S. Open, finishing fourth, but was no threat in the other two majors, the British Open (28th) and the PGA Championship (missed cut). He wound up 9 over par at the Tour Championship. Even the Ryder Cup, where his combative nature has always spelled success, was a disappointment of such magnitude (he went 1-2) that he found himself the leading critical voice of team captain Jim Furyk.
The month leading into this Masters has been particularly barren. His March included a T-47 at the Players Championship, a T-50 at the Palmer Invitational, a missed cut at the Valspar and a quick Match Play exit.
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And yet, in a pre-Masters teleconference, Reed stated, “Honestly, I feel like the state of mind that I'm in right now is better than it was last year at this point.
“I've hit golf shots and have done things on the golf course that I feel a little bit more comfortable this year doing than I did last year at this point. I just need to go out and continue playing to put four rounds together. I've put myself in position and have put some solid rounds together. I just haven't quite put four yet out there at the same time yet. It's either been two or three or three and a half. I just need to get all of them going. I feel like I'm really close.”
In fact, there was the feel of desperation at the Valspar when Reed’s wife — and one-time caddie — Justine reached out to noted swing whisperer David Leadbetter for help. Reed and Leadbetter then engaged in a 90-minute session whose affects have yet to make themselves known.
A defending champion tinkering so close to the Masters is a rarity for a reason, it’s just not a good sign. The challenge facing Reed this week is reflected in the sage words of Gene Sarazen: “You don't come to Augusta to find your game. You come here because you've got one.”
But Reed has returned to the scene of his greatest golf triumph expressing not a single doubt about whether he’s capable of repeating. And while winning nothing else in the past year, he has not laid blame on any kind of Masters fatigue. He’s lean and keen to rewind and repeat at Augusta National.
Credit: Mike Lawrie
Credit: Mike Lawrie
Once you’ve sat courtside at a New York Knicks game, wearing the spoils of a Masters victory, and had rapper 2 Chainz come by to touch the green jacket like it’s a sacred artifact (an actual highlight that Reed points to), you just don’t want to give that up.
“Knowing that I have to get the jacket back at the end of the week, it makes me more hungry and more motivated to keep the jacket and continue playing well and trying to win another one,” Reed said. “There’s nothing like being able to kind of walk around and with the jacket everywhere I go, so every time I wake up, I see it, and every time I come home and go to bed, I see it. I use it more as motivation.”
Reed has learned that people just seem to like a man in a green jacket, one that’s well-fitted, of course.
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