Patrick Reed knows one round does not maketh a comeback.
The 2018 Masters champion and winner of nine PGA Tour titles has been around long enough to understand that during times of struggle, an extended stretch of good form and play is required to build confidence to return to past success.
But Reed realizes one round can be the spark to ignite such a return. And Thursday’s 4-under 66 at Colonial Country Club in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge could be the spark. That put the Ryder Cup hero in a tie for the early clubhouse lead alongside Webb Simpson, Harold Varner and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who bounced back from missing his first cut of the year in last week’s PGA Championship.
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Reed has missed five cuts this season and earned just one top 10 – a tie for second last fall in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. In 2022, he’s been no better than 15th in 12 PGA Tour starts. And the former regular resident in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking has slipped to 38th.
But he’s not pressing.
“The great thing about a season is it’s a season,” Reed said. “You have a lot of time left. If I just keep doing what we’re doing and stick to our game plan, the game is going to come around. Honestly, I feel like the game is where it needs to be, I just need the ball to go in the hole a little quicker.
“It feels good to get a number out of it. Honestly I feel like there’s been too many days that I’ve done a lot of things really well, just the number hasn’t reflected it.”
Reed did his best work on the shortest holes – he posted 2 on all four par 3s. He holed a bunker shot on the 222-yard fourth and made birdie putts of 14 feet on the 196-yard eighth, one foot on the 193-yard 13th and 20 feet on the 197-yard 16th.
“To go around and birdie all four of the par-3s always helps,” he said. “I was able to attack the par-3s today and I was able to go around there in 4 under, and I think that really helps kind of leading into the week and leading into the day because there’s some demanding holes out there.
“Honestly, all in all, with how I felt like I played, even including the last hole, it was just a solid, steady day, and that’s what you need around a golf course like this, especially as the wind starts to pick up. You just need to go out there and hit quality golf shots and have control of your ball.”
Scheffler turned in his bogey-free round after missing his first cut since last fall with rounds of 71-75 in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Oklahoma. He had won his first four PGA Tour titles this year, including the Masters, and was one of the top favorites at Southern Hills.
“I felt like I did a really good job of managing myself around the golf course. Anytime you make no bogeys, it’s going to be a good round,” Scheffler said. “The PGA, I just kind of got on the wrong side of things and I didn’t play good, and I just made too many errors, and that’s what’s going to happen in a major championship.
“I was very frustrated obviously with how last week ended. You never want to miss a cut. I hadn’t missed a cut in a while up to that point, so I think it makes it even more frustrating just knowing that I was playing really good golf and I just didn’t have it that week. That stuff happens.
“So for me, it’s just one week, and I hate missing cuts, but it’s good.”
