August 19, 2013. What could be called as nerve-wrecking playoff win had everyone on their seat’s edge. Patrick Reed won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first PGA title, beating Jordan Spieth with a most improbable birdie on the second hole of a playoff.
In the span of a couple of strokes, Patrick Reed went from almost certain disaster to his first PGA TOUR victory.
Reed was almost on the verge of breakdown when a drive on the par-4 10th came a few feet from going out of bounds. Miraculously, to his good luck, it stopped in some pine needles in the woods near a television cable.
He pulled out his 7-iron, uncorked a baseball swing from an uphill lie and sent the ball under a tree branch — yet away from the tree trunk — to land his second shot 7 feet from the pin.
“It was the best shot of my life, that’s for sure,” Reed said.
Spieth, who called it “one of the best shots I’ve ever witnessed,” had reached the green in two strokes but his 10-foot birdie putt trickled wide of the cup.
Reed’s wife Justine, who caddies for him, was an integral part of this coveted win. She guided him at every step and the duo displayed great teamwork.
“Just to get my first win means everything to me,” Reed said.
Reed, who had his third straight top-10 finish, earned 500 FedEx Cup points and moved to 22nd in the standings for winning in the finale of the PGA Tour season.
Reed who survived six Monday qualifiers last year now has job security for two more. He is in two majors — including the Masters he covets so much — and headed to New Jersey on Monday in a private plane to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time. He enters The Barclays ranked 22nd and assured of at least 3 Playoffs starts, too.
Edited by Rajlakshmi Retesh
Inputs from PGA Tour
