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Patrick Reed Just Holds On To Claim His First Major At The Masters

by Chris Kelleher

Despite his closest challenger prior to the final round, Rory McIlroy, fading away by the back nine, Patrick Reed still had a hell of a contest on his hands.

He held a three shot lead over McIlroy, and five shots over the rest of the field prior to teeing off on Masters Sunday at Augusta National. A third round 67 and 65 for Reed and Rory respectively set up what looked to be a rematch of the infamous singles game from the 2016 Ryder Cup, in which Reed prevailed in a cauldron of passion rarely seen in professional golf.

That scenario did pan out, at least on the front nine. The two young superstars traded blows, with birdies and bogeys commonplace for both.

The inability of both to break away from the ever-encroaching chasing pack allowed the likes of Rickie Fowler and John Rahm to reach double figures and trouble the leading duo.

It was 2015 champion Jordan Spieth who really put the frighteners on Reed, however. The current Open Champion, who followed his best-of-the-day first round 66 with rounds of 74 and 71 to leave him nine shots behind the lead heading into Sunday, stormed through the front nine in a blemish free 31 shots.

See Also: Jordan Spieth Blazes The Front Nine In 31 To Scare The Leaders

Suddenly, the Texan was just three shots behind. He wasn’t done there though, and the back nine of Augusta still lay ahead for the challengers.

Spieth made some scarcely believable putts to close the gap, including this effort at the 12th where he infamously hit the water twice en-route to blowing a lead in 2016.

The 2015 Masters winner briefly drew level with his fellow Texan, draining this birdie putt on the par three 16th to move to -14.

A botched drive on the difficult 18th tee would leave Spieth short of the fairway though, and he would make five on the last to drop back to -13, carding carding an eight under 64.

Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler had a quiet start to the day, at one over for the first seven holes. But six birdies on the way in would kickstart his attempt for a maiden major victory, with this clutch birdie putt on the 18th green seeing him finish at -14, just one behind Reed who was standing on the 18th tee that had only minutes earlier condemned Spieth to defeat.

Reed, who finished many of his drives with a strange Arnold Palmer-like pose, drove it just short of the bunkers signifying the 300 yard mark. His approach found the green around 30 feet past the hole, establishing a clear ultimatum – two putts to claim the green jacket.

The first lightning-quick putt ran roughly four feet past, not the ideal putt to leave yourself for a first major win. Reed spent little time contemplating the consequences, and promptly sinked it for the victory.

The American will be presented with the green jacket by last year’s champion, Sergio Garcia.

Final Leaderboard:

1 Patrick Reed, -15

2 Rickie Fowler, -14

3 Jordan Spieth, -13

4 Jon Rahm, -11

T5 Cameron Smith, -9

T5 Henrik Stenson, -9

T5 Bubba Watson, -9

T5 Rory McIlroy -9

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Author: Chris Kelleher

Student whose interests lie in sports ranging from Darts to MMA, with the likes of Golf, Boxing and Soccer in between. Closet wrestling fan and a lover of sports psychology and stiff jabs.

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