Patrick Reed battled himself at times before fending off some of the world’s best to win his first Major at Augusta National on Sunday, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
An elite field produced some of the finest sporting drama at one of the most esteemed venues before taking it to the final putt on the 72nd hole to determine the winner.
Eventually, it was Reed ― groomed nearby as the leader of the Augusta State NCAA team ― who wrote his name into folklore. But he did it the hard way.
The picture was clear at the start of play; Reed had a three-shot advantage and was looking to win his first Major and fend off Ryder Cup foe Rory McIlroy, who was chasing history as the sixth player to win all four Majors.
The potential villians to the script of the Hazeltine 2016 rematch, Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm, both of whom started too far behind to really matter, weren’t expected to tilt the scales.
This was golf at its finest, two men chasing their dreams with only one winner.
Reed got the first of his four key breaks after his very first strike of the day while McIlroy’s wild effort was indeed a sign of things to come. Reed’s opening drive was perilously close to a tree in the left pine straw but ‘Captain America’ braved the shot which had calamity and possibly serious injury waiting not so patiently.
After watching his foe escape from grave danger down the right, the risk paid off for Reed as he managed to advance his ball into the bunker short left, matching McIlroy’s effort. McIlroy produced a sand save while Reed was fortunate that his poor effort hung onto the back of the green. He would two-putt for bogey to see his deficit reduced to two.
‘Game on,’ many would be thinking.
The slow start by Fowler narrowed the narrative to a battle between the leader and his nearest rival. Reed’s next break came on the 3rd when he aggressively went for his birdie; miss and he’s staring at bogey. But, the scorecard reflected a three as the momentum shifted in his favour.
With three rounds in 60s, Reed was unable to find the same rhythm as he was forced away from his usual Sunday red, his ode to Tiger Woods, into Nike’s Azalea-pink themed outfit. Known to be superstitious, was this change, on the grandest stage in golf and McIlroy’s flickering glimpses of brilliance in the first few holes proving to be his kryptonite?
A bogey at 6th saw the gap reduced once more. But the tale twisted once more at the 7th when Reed almost holed out from the fairway. He looked to have one hand slipping inside the Green Jacket with McIlroy level at that point but struggling not only with a loose driver but also on the greens as he missed a number of short putts, strokes that would ultimately cost him his place in history. For now at least.
A bogey on 8th and another on 11th saw McIlroy exit the stage. His exit was countered by the magnificence of Jordan Spieth, the start of Rickie Fowler’s remarkable run and Rahm’s flirtation with Masters glory in only his second playing.
Rahm, playing in the group ahead of the leaders with Fowler, would be the last to enter the stage and despite getting within two strokes of the lead after birdies on 13th and 14th, the Spaniard would bogey the 15th after committing the cardinal sin; playing short of the hole. His approach would find the front ledge and rolled agonisingly back into Rae’s Creek as he exited the frame, not quite like his fellow countryman Sergio Garcia did on Thursday but almost surely just as painfully.
For Spieth even to be mentioned as a leading player in this most famous Sunday at Augusta was at times surreal. The 2015 winner turned in 31 to get within four of his national teammate and had a moment of redemption on the 12th when he overcame his demons for a birdie that would turn a good run into a late charge at a second Green Jacket.
That charge was aided by one of the shots of the championship as he hit the green in two from the pinestraw on the 13th after changing from an iron to a hybrid. That bold decision paid off as he stroked home for an eagle. He then amped up the pressure with a narrow miss on 14th, a two-putt birdie on 15th and finally a 30-footer on 16th which roared the patrons into life.
Now tied for the lead, unimaginable after starting the day nine back, he was chasing glory. History at every turn with the course record, Sunday’s lowest ever round, the biggest come from behind win and another Major. A good chance at 17 was spurned before his electric display was put out in rather bizarre fashion as his drive clipped the tree on the last hole, which he had to birdie with the champion in waiting still having scoring options to come, and left him no chance of reaching the green in two.
Spieth pitched perfectly but failed to roll in his par putt with his race now run. Only Sunday’s lowest round would be added to his illustrious CV as he would finish third alone. Two ahead of Rahm but two short of the winning total.
The neutral’s hopes rested on the shoulders of another player to never have won on any of golf’s biggest stages ― Fowler. His entrance into the frame was expected but it took far longer than anyone could have possibly anticipated as he struggled to capitalise on good work from tee to green and was birdie-less through the first seven holes.
In fact, he’d be overtaken by Spieth and Rahm by the time he’d walked off the seventh green and was staring down the barrel of more harsh words of being a nice guy but unable to produce when it counts.
In truth and through more honest eyes, he always started with too much to do with the margin at the start of the day five shots.
None of that, nor his indifferent start seemed to weigh heavily as he got up and down on the 8th for his first red number and navigated the slope on 9th to perfection to set up a chance for a birdie. Fowler grabbed the chance confidently before a precision iron into the difficult 12th set up another birdie. His strategy of three wood off the 13th-tee paid off somewhat as he recorded another birdie, this time from a world-class potentially tournament-defining up and down performance on the hole.
That putt saw him close the gap on Reed at a time where all of the leader’s challengers fell by the wayside.
The grand battle between Reed and McIlroy was over but a new, more intense one had just begun as the Masters once again was decided by who would hold their nerve late on Sunday.
Reed flinched from nowhere as he came up short with his approach. It would prove to be his next massive break as his ball mysteriously stayed up and survived it’s destiny of a place at the bottom of the creek. He did not get up and down to see his lead reduced with a par-five that was, in effect, a bogey against his rival.
Fowler missed a great chance to close the gap to one on 14th as his putt stayed out, something that Reed would not do as he once again took his advantage out over the field. Fowler two-putted for birdie on 15th and when Reed missed, the contest was set up for a showstopper finish.
The two traded sparring punches with Fowler short-siding himself on 16th but saving par to which Reed responded with an excellent iron but conservative putt which broke deviously left at the end to stay out. Fowler was short of the 17th and settled for par, almost enough to gain a stroke on Reed, who was short and right on the same hole moments later.
Reed’s final piece of luck then followed as he lipped out from 80 feet. Miss the cup and his gap is almost certainly down to a single stroke with Fowler in position for birdie. Slow down by the deviation down and out of the hole and save par and take a cushion down the last. The latter ensured as he calmly saved par.
Fowler then earned the day’s loudest roar with a birdie at the last, a mean feat considering Spieth’s brilliance, Tony Finau’s run of six straight back nine birdies, Paul Casey’s dip at the course record and Charley Hoffman’s ace on the third last hole.
The gap now one. This masterpiece needing one last chapter. Reed to par the last to win or allow Fowler into a playoff.
The man who inspired his country in almost every team competition was unable to rely on anything but his own skill. His approach left him one of the most treacherous putts, downhill on the last.
His effort rolled three feet past.
Three feet for his Masters moment. His Major breakthrough. And his name forever etched in golf’s history. His scream and fist pump, the final act of one of golf’s best ever stories.
