It’s been one heck of a vacation/celebration/major media tour for Masters champion Patrick Reed.
He’s gone everywhere sporting the Green Jacket — baseball games, NBA games, late night talk show circuit and everything in-between.
Finally, yes finally, it’s time to head back to work.
Reed with team with another Patrick — young Cantlay — for this week’s team event in New Orleans.
Good news is we finally have some name players in the field — 10 from the world’s top 14 — compared to the last two weeks of near-total nameless drudgery.
The field is also saddled with yet another one of those PGA Tour-owned, non-descript TPC courses — TPC Louisiana.
Jordan Spieth is back after his final-round run at The Masters. He’s in again with Ryan Palmer.
Justin Thomas is there for another go-round with Bud Cauley.
One of the shockers last year was the team of Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson missing the 36-hole cut. They’re back, hopefully a little more motivated than this time last year.
A team that might get some notice this week is Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar — the long and steady pair — interesting duo.
Sergio Garcia has played miserably as of late. He’s missed two straight cuts and launched his driver into the bushes last week in frustration. He’ll play with fellow Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Speaking of Spanish stars — Jon Rahm’s in the field with Wesley Bryan as his partner. The young guys are liking this event.
There’s a major change to this year’s event and the thought is to make things more interesting for Sunday’s final round. The teams will play best-ball in rounds one and three with the alternate shot format on Friday and Sunday. Best ball takes a lot of pressure away, alternate shot adds it.
Brooks Koepka makes his return after a 15-week injury layoff and is paired with the un-achieving Marc Turnesa.
