Patrick Reed coughs up huge lead in Dallas, rallies with birdie in playoff to earn first LIV title

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[PHOTO: Sam Hodde]

Patrick Reed took a huge lead into the final round of the LIV Golf Dallas event at Maridoe Golf Club. He birdied the first hole and was standing on a whopping five-shot lead. It appeared as if the day would have little drama and be nothing more than a smooth stroll to victory.

Five holes later, when Reed bogeyed the sixth hole, his lead had completely evaporated. Moments later, Harold Varner III bogeyed the ninth hole and Reed held a one-shot lead, but that’s essentially the way the whole afternoon went outside Dallas.

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Reed was up, he was down, he was tied, he was down and eventually, somehow, found his way in a four-man playoff with Jinichiro Kozuma, Louis Oosthuizen and Paul Casey.

Playing the treacherous 499-metre, par-4 18th hole, Oosthuizen hit his tee shot into the water and was essentially eliminated. Kozuma and Casey both made par. Then, Reed, standing over a sliding, downhill birdie putt from just inside 20 feet smoothly rolled in the putt for victory.

He shot three-over 75 on the day but the birdie, only the third of the round on the home hole, was the only thing that mattered. Reed finally captured his first LIV Golf win and it came, of all places, in his home state of Texas.

“I tried to mess it up,” said Reed, who was playing in his 41st LIV event. “After making birdie on the first I seemed to leave every birdie short. I told myself, ‘Hey, the putts have to start falling.’ For the most part I felt like I was hitting the ball fine, I just had a lot of missed putts.”

Here’s a smattering of events that show what a topsy-turvy day it was for the 2018 Masters champion. When Tyrrell Hatton birdied the eighth hole he was tied with Reed. Reed went back up by one on the next hole over Hatton and Varner. When Reed bogeyed the eighth hole he was tied with Hatton and Varner. Reed bogeyed holes three, four, six, eight and nine on the opening stretch. Kozuma birdied three of four holes to come from nowhere and tied Reed at six-under at one point. Hatton made birdie at the 13th and was tied with Kozuma and Reed. When Casey birdied the 13th he was tied. At one point Hatton, Kozuma and Casey were tied with Reed for the lead. A bogey on the last pushed Hatton out of the eventual playoff. Kozuma birdied the 17th to take a one-shot lead but bogeyed the 18th.

Point made? Somehow Reed overcame all of that and found a way to win.

“Even though the score was high compared to where it should have been, it was kind of one of those days that when you don’t make putts, any little thing that’s off is going to cost you,” Reed said. “The good thing is I had a big enough lead there to hold it together.”

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Said Oosthuizen: “It’s always nice being in a playoff. It means you’ve done something right. I hope one of these days one of those come my way.”

Three other notes from the final round. Jon Rahm shot one-over 73 to tie for 11th place. Normally that would not be newsworthy, but it was the first time in his LIV career that he finished outside the top 10. Granted, it was by one shot, but still, it’s a fact.

Bryson DeChambeau, a big Texas favourite with the gallery, shot 72 in both the first two rounds and had done nothing spectacular. He made five birdies during a difficult final day, shot 68 and vaulted up and into a tie for ninth place.

Sergio Garcia tied for 25th place after shooting 70 in the final round. After finishing third in Miami he has played poorly, finishing 50th, T-42, T-38 and T-25 in Dallas. However, he earned an exemption into next month’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush. He’s fifth in LIV Golf individual points and is the highest-ranked player who otherwise isn’t exempt. He’s behind Joaquin Niemann, DeChambeau, Rahm and Reed. But Garcia gets the nod because those four were already in the field.