Patrick Reed drops LIV Golf bombshell after landing 'special' Dubai win
American opens up on being ‘free agent’ as new contract with Saudi-backed circuit remains unsigned
Patrick Reed dropped a bombshell after winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, one of the DP World Tour’s $9 million Rolex Series events, by revealing that he’s not yet signed up to play in the upcoming LIV Golf season.
“We're still finalising the contract. We're not complete on that yet,” said the 35-year-old, speaking at Emirates Golf Club after completing a four-shot victory to become the fifth American to get his hands on the iconic Dallah Trophy.
The new LIV Golf season starts in Riyadh next month but, in two interviews earlier in the week in the UAE, Reed had spoken about how he was “supposed to be” playing in that. As things stand, it remains to be seen if he will indeed continue to be a member of the Dustin Johnson-captained 4Aces team on the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.
“At the moment, yes, sir,” replied the 2019 Masters champion to being asked if he was technically a free agent before it was also put to him that it could mean he has played his last LIV event if ongoing negotiations don’t reach an agreement.
“Not right now,” he insisted. “Really just all kind of depends on everything. I mean, I haven't talked to the team back home or anything like that. But, at the moment, I plan on teeing it up there in Riyadh, and I'd be surprised if we're not.”
Is it strictly money or how he feels about the direction of the LIV tour, which is switching to 72 holes for this season after ditching its much-vaunted 54-hole format?
‘I don't know where everything stands’
“No,” he continued. “I mean, it's just one of those things with contracts and stuff. There's a lot of language and wording in contracts and everything, and, at this point, I don't know where everything stands.”
Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka is preparing to make his PGA Tour return after leaving LIV Golf, with the same opportunity having been offered to Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith on the strength of them being major winners as well since 2022.
Reed, who won The Masters in 2018, described his Dubai title triumph as an “amazing win” when it was suggested that he now has a good bargaining tool in his talks with LIV Golf chiefs while, at the same time, perhaps making PGA Tour chiefs see an opportunity to lure another big name back to the circuit.
At the end of a trip to the UAE - he’s also playing on the DP World Tour in Bahrain next week - that had seen him describe the PGA Tour as the “best in the world”, Reed talked about having one eye on a pathway back to the US circuit.
“Continue to play out here and be in the top ten and be on the PGA Tour next year,” he said, smiling, of the spots up for grabs through the Race to Dubai.
In getting his hands on the iconic Dallah Trophy, the 35-year-old joined Fred Couples (1995), Mark O’Meara (2004), Tiger Woods (2006 and 2008) and Bryson DeChambeau (2019) in American sbeing crowned as the Desert Classic champion.
“I think the biggest thing this week that was so special is I've won on every tour except this one,” Reed told The Scotsman. “Even though online, it says I have three wins, one was a major and two were WGC events. So they are all co-sanctioned events.
‘To close it off means a lot to me’
“It's something that's always kind of been eating at me, sitting there not actually having a win over here. To close it off means a lot to me, especially doing it here in Dubai, which I love coming to, makes it even more special.”
Four shots ahead at the start of the day, it looked as though Reed would need to dig deep to shake off David Puig after the young Spaniard made great par saves at the first, third and seventh before ramping up the pressure by holing from 11 feet and five feet for birdies at the eighth and ninth.
With Reed going out in one over, it meant his cushion had been halved but, just when it seemed we were in for a thrilling finish on the Majlis Course, Puig’s engine started to splutter. Following three bogeys in the space of five holes from the 11th, it was game over.
Three years after finishing runner-up, having also been in the top ten last year, Reed topped the leaderboard with a 14-under-par total. Allowed the luxury of hitting an iron off the tee at the par-5 18th and taking all the trouble short of the green out of the equation as he then laid up, he signed off with a 72, finishing just before the heavens opened in the UAE, to win by four shots.
“Today was a lot harder than I expected. I knew it was going to be. I just couldn't really get anything going on the front nine,” admitted Reed, who is expected to jump from 44th to around 29th in the world rankings - his highest position for nearly four years and meaning he’s now likely to be in all four majors this year. “It's always nice to lock up the majors,” he admitted.
“I learned a lot about the round today. Instead of just keeping the foot on the gas early, I tried to protect my four-shot lead, and next thing you know, David goes and birdies eight and nine and shuts it down to two. Even Kess (Karain, his caddie and brother-in-law) was like, ‘hey, now it's a dogfight. Let's get going. Go shoot under par on the back nine, no-one will beat you’."
As Puig, who was handed a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker at the last to see a 73 turn into a 75, had to settle for a share of seventh spot on seven under, Englishman Andy Sullivan ended up as Reed’s closest challenger, catching the edge of the hole with a knee-knocker for a birdie at the last to come home in 33 as he closed with a 71.
After a disappointing 74 to end his week, Emirates Golf Club member Ewen Ferguson finished joint-33rd on two under, one better than Grant Forrest (71) in joint-41st, while Richie Ramsay (72) marked his first outing of the season by squeezing into the top 50 on one over.
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