First diagnosis for what landed Patrick Reed in a Houston hospital last week was double (bi-lateral) pneumonia but this week as he showed up to compete in the Tour Championship, Reed told a different tale — the culprit that took him down was indeed, COVID.
Reed put the details in a text to the Golf Channel:
“My primary diagnosis was bilateral pneumonia. I was vaccinated for COVID-19 so I’m not sure if I had the delta variant but I’m just really happy to be able to be here and I’m feeling much better. It was very scary, the pneumonia had infiltrated my lower lobes of my lungs, but I feel very fortunate that I was very well taken care of.”
Reed also acknowledged that he was later diagnosed with COVID and admitted he was in bad shape in the hospital for nearly a week.
Good news for Reed was that K.H. Lee’s 72nd hole bogey at the BMW Championship last week, took Lee out of the 30th spot and cleared the way for Reed to make it to East Lake. After clearing all the protocols for COVID, he’s at East Lake and he’s under the microscope of Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker. There’s one school of thought that has Reed as a lock to be a Stricker captain’s pick next week. There’s another school of thought that says look at his record the past few months.
In July, he finished tied for 32nd at the Rocket Mortgage, missed the cut at the Open Championship and tied for 34th at the 3M.
In August he tied for 22nd at the Olympics then tied for 31st at the WGC-St. Jude in Memphis, then withdrew from the regular season-ending Wyndham Championship, citing a bum ankle. Reed missed both playoff events and he owes K.H. Lee an expensive “Thank-You” gift.
Not exactly captain’s pick-worthy performances and it was recent performance that knocked PGA Champ Phil Mickelson out of playing spot and into a vice captain’s golf cart.
There has to be major heat on Reed to play well this week. He’s done well at East Lake with top 10 finishes in the last two Tour Championships but this time it’s different — how will his game look considering the hospitalization and the fact he hasn’t played competitively since WGC-St. Jude?
Reed, in fact, confirmed before play began that the only reason he’s at East Lake is because this is a Ryder Cup year and he desperately wants to be on the team, otherwise, he’d have passed.
His first round on Thursday was held together only by his amazing short game skills. He was all over the place with his iron shots — he had the two-way missing going and as a result, hit only five greens on the day. He’d finish with a two-over par 72 and he basically turned 80 into 72. It was that ugly with the approach shots. That left him tied for 28th on day one.
On the opposite end of the leaderboard was Patrick Cantlay and his 10-under par head start. Cantlay looked every part of the guy who can take it all. He was steady and calculating on his way to 67 that put him at 13-under, just two better than world’s No. 1 Jon Rahm, who made a big move with 65 and made up two strokes on the stagger-start. “It’s a tough test out there,” said Rahm, who had seven birdies on his card and it was only back-to-back bogeys at seven and eight that prevented him from tying Cantlay right out of the box. “I made up some ground — a lot of golf to be played,” Rahm added.
Harris English made up a lot of ground. He shot 66 and jumped up to a tie for third with Bryson DeChambeau, who treaded water and finished the day where he started — eight under par thanks to an opening 70. English had the shot of the day when he crushed a perfect five-iron on the scary 15th that ended up in the cup for an ace.
Viktor Hovland was a mover. He shot 66 and jumped to seven-under in a trio with Cam Smith (68) and Justin Thomas (67).
Rahm was correct on this. There’s a lot of golf to be played and yes, there is a tournament within the tournament — so to speak. There are those six captain’s picks coming from Stricker when all of this is over. English put his name at the top of the list and Reed’s playing partner, Billy Horschel, tied Rahm for the day’s best round, shooting 65 and clipping Reed by seven shots.
Unlike last week, East Lake is ready to defend itself with Bermuda rough that demands a little more accuracy off the tee that at Caves Valley.
Most of all, Rahm paid it tribute with the simple thought:
“It’s just a great layout.”
5 Comments
baxter cepeda
Extremely scary tale from Reed.
I appreciate he shared this latest news because hearing double pneumonia the obvious question is how?
Of course COVID crosses everyone’s mind but no mention.
Now that we know that it was the ‘ol nasty Rona and that he IS vaccinated I kinda wish we didn’t know any of this.
But the show must go on….
And the Ryder cup would not be quite the same show — golf husbands of the pga tour —without captain America.
But he should also be there because he is one of the best players. A big time winner.
Recent results matter but wins, contending/winning majors and a positive Ryder cup record is what really matters in determining who will be clutch at the Ryder cup. Even old US Am wins matter more than recent success. A player like Reed getting a bunch of top 20s and 30s is good enough.
The fact Reed is showing such passion by just playing this week is reason enough.
Like Lefty, Captain America should be in as a player; if not sticker might need to get a bigger table for meetings with his assistant coaches.
Tom Edrington
Lefty’s out; Not sure how it’s going to play out on Wednesday but I’d say Finau’s a lock, Schauffele’s a lock, Spieth’s a lock — that leaves three more and if you have three guys playing a LOT better than Reed the past three weeks — well, it wouldn’t shock me if Reed wasn’t picked.
baxter cepeda
No shocks for Reed or lefty not playing. But again IMO players can have all the form in the world. But if they are not familiar with winning at the highest level, they will struggle to win Ryder cup matches. We see it all the time. I put my trust in proven winners over a career.
Tom Edrington
Baxter, Lefty’s an assistant captain, he’s out; There’s a spot for Reed but then comes the age-old question as to who will play with him. If I’m Stricker, I’m calling Reed and telling he’s a captain’s pick with two conditions: 1. No bitching about who you are paired with. 2. Keep your mouth shut if you’re not happy with your playing partner.
baxter cepeda
1 and 2 on your list are like the same thing.
Reed was right about the pairings in France. He really wanted to play with tiger but realized he belonged with JOrdan and JT with tiger.
Reed was just one small part of a mess of an American squad in Paris. By the end your boo brooks and his old BFF DJ were reportedly at fisticuffs; they denied it but the proof is in the pudding.
There’s a few guys who will play with him. Maybe Bryson since their the two BAD boys. They could come out to the song.
Btw I realize Phil is out.