Weekly Recap: An Interesting Reed

Patrick Reed won a golf tournament on Sunday and a lot of people weren't too pleased about it. That's pretty much a perfect day for Reed, right?

The most controversial player in golf found himself, um, embedded in controversy once more over the weekend at Torrey Pines. Yet with thousand-watt klieg lights shining right in his face, Reed put his head down, looked straight ahead and ran away with the Farmers Insurance Open by five strokes.

It was an incredible mental performance but also a remarkable display of short-game acumen. Reed ranked 31st in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 39th in SG: Approach and his drives averaged only 288 yards on a track measuring nearly 7,800 yards. But he overcame all that by ranking first in SG: Around-the-Green, ninth in scrambling and 10th in SG: Putting. Quite simply, there is no better player in golf from 125 yards and in. And no matter how you feel about Reed, it's cool to see this type of golf in this day and age of bomb and gouge.

Reed won for the ninth time on the PGA Tour and for the fourth consecutive season, and he regained a position in the top-10 in the world rankings. Among those nine wins are the Masters, two WGCs, two playoff events, the Tournament of Champions and now Torrey Pines. In his first win way back in 2013, he took down Jordan Spieth in a playoff. Those are all big-boy wins.  

If you can accept Reed for who is -- we know that's easier said than done -- he is a very valuable fantasy option. I own him in one of my two season-long leagues. Not only does he play a lot and of course has many high finishes, he makes a lot of putts. He not only avoids bogeys but makes many birdies (he's ranked fourth on Tour in birdie average) and third in bounce back (tenacity and determination). He rarely misses a cut -- just four in his past 26 events -- and he rebounded quite nicely from a trunk-slam at The American Express.

As for the controversy, by now just about all of you have seen it and saw it was discussed ad nauseum on social media, CBS and the Golf Channel. The upshot is, while many fellow pros said that Reed took liberties they never would, the PGA Tour said he did nothing wrong. So not only are many people upset with Reed because they believe he cheated, they are also angry at the Tour for not agreeing with them (which, by the way, also pretty much doubles as a metaphor for life on Twitter).

Reed now heads to Saudi Arabia to take part in what is, of course, a controversial tournament on the European Tour. But we should see him back on the PGA Tour in three weeks at Rivera. And certainly back at Torrey Pines in five months, when he'll be among the favorites for the U.S. Open.

No predictions for how he'll do at the Genesis Invitational just yet, though in light of what happened at Torrey Pines, expect Reed to be on his best behavior.

We understand that in the minds of many of you, that's a very a low bar for Reed to clear.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Viktor Hovland
In the five-way tie for second, Hovland was the one guy with a legit shot to catch Reed. But he collapsed with bogeys on three of the final four holes. It was surprising from this elite ball-striker. Interestingly, Reed is ranked 10th in the world and Hovland 12th, but we saw on Sunday how far apart they really are. Hovland has two wins, but they are Puerto Rico and Mayakoba. No real knock on Hovland, just more praise for Reed.

Xander Schauffele
One of the great mysteries in golf – why San Diegan Schauffele doesn't play well at Torrey Pines – is no more. He tied for second, by far his best showing after missing the cut in four of five previous visits. It may have been the one week of the year where you could argue against starting him, and now that argument is gone. So feel free to roster him this week at Phoenix.

Tony Finau
There's not much to say – again. He was close – again. We won't guarantee that one of the days Finau will win, but he doesn't have too many bad weeks.

Ryan Palmer
The 44-year-old is showing no signs of aging. His co-runner-up was his second top-5 of the month, after a solo fourth at Kapalua. At a cheaper price than many top players, Palmer is third on Tour in birdie average.

Henrik Norlander
The fifth guy in the five-way tie for second coincidentally was a college teammate of Reed. This matched Norlander's best finish on Tour (RSM, 2016) and followed a tie for 12th at the Amex. He also had a T4 at the Sanderson. Norlander will give it a go again this week at Phoenix.

Will Zalatoris
He eagled the 18th to move into the top-10 (T7) and just keeps delivering week after week. He was already in the Phoenix field on a sponsor invite, but now enters via his top-10. He's almost in the top-50 OWGR, now 53rd, and despite no PGA Tour card, his arrow continues to point straight up.

Lanto Griffin
After some sketchy first few weeks of 2021, Griffin tied for seventh – and that lifted him into the top-50 for the first time ever. He's inside the top-20 in SG: Putting on Tour, and it's fun to roster and root for a guy who will make a lot of putts for you.

Jon Rahm
It seemed like a bad week for Rahm, right? Couldn't make a run when he was right there? Well, he tied for seventh. Get over it.

Francesco Molinari
Molinari tying for 10th anywhere would be a very positive result after his year of struggles. But doing it at the longest course on Tour was especially impressive. He ranked top-15 in three SG categories: Off-the-Tee, Approach and Around-the-Green. After tying for eighth at the Amex, Molinari is now back inside the top-100 at 95th and, dare we say, maybe back to being a good player again.
 
Rory McIlroy
Beginning the day inside the top-10 and with a real chance, McIlroy saw Reed atop the leaderboard and went the other way. (We're kidding! Maybe.). After going out in 2-under to get to 9-under, he closed with a 3-over 39 that included a double bogey and another Sunday disappointment. That 9-under score ended up being second place, but McIlroy wound up tied for 16th. It was enough to inch him to sixth in the world rankings.

Sam Burns
Burns began Sunday in the final group but slipped to a 75 and a tie for 18th. He's only 24, he's going to have some serious ups and down. But he's also ranked third on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee.

Carlos Ortiz
An impressive week in which Ortiz played in the final group on Sunday soured with a 78. Let's chalk it up to one bad day for a guy who has had two top-15s after his maiden win at Mayakoba.

Brandt Snedeker
He's 40 years old, far from his former self and he struggled through three rounds at his beloved Torrey Pines. But the two-time Farmers champion proudly closed with a 69 to climb into a tie for 32nd, his best result in seven starts. He fell to 114th OWGR.

Justin Suh
The former Southern Cal All-American tied for 37th in his fourth Tour start of the season. He had a top-10 and a top-15 in the fall and appears to be over his injury woes.
 
Phil Mickelson
On one hand, is was fantastic  to see Mickelson birdie his final two holes on Friday to make the cut on the number. But all that got him were two more mediocre rounds and a tie for 53rd. Statistically, there was not one good thing to focus on. Heck, he was even 90th in driving distance. Mickelson is now ranked 73rd in the world rankings.

Byeong Hun An
It's been a disastrous season for An, who has made only four of nine cuts. There was hope with a tie for eighth at the Amex and then a made cut at Torrey Pines, but he closed with a 78 at finished solo 75th. Already a terrible putter, An is ranked outside the top-100 in SG: Off-the-Tee. Not a good sign.
 
Missed cuts
Eighty players, more than half the 156-man field, made the cut. It was quite a list of names who didn't make it: Scottie Scheffler, Si Woo Kim, Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith, Billy Horschel, Charles Howell III, Cameron Champ, Erik van Rooyen, Emiliano Grillo, Bubba Watson, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, Harris English and Matthew Wolff (who withdrew after the first round but as of now is still in the Phoenix field). Of note, Spieth trunk-slammed in his first start of 2021; he needed to birdie a par-5 on his final hole to reach the weekend but couldn't. He fell to 92nd OWGR. … Howell had been 17 for 17 in cuts at Torrey Pines through the years with three runners-up and a numerous top-10s. … Day was a two-time champion and this was one of his top tracks on the entire calendar; with a recent coaching change, maybe hit the pause button on Day till he gives us reason to hit play. … Koepka, claiming to be healthy for the first time in a long time, missed his second straight cut of 2021 and it's now three in a row dating to last year – all that after a tie for seventh at the Masters. Koepka has been playing OWGR events since 2012 and had never missed three straight cuts before. He'll try to break the streak this week in Phoenix.

Omega Dubai Desert Classic

Paul Casey
After a terrible year in which he fell out of the top-25 in the world rankings, Paul Casey appears to be back. He ran away to win by four strokes. The field wasn't nearly as strong as the Farmers (292 strength of field vs. 441), but it was stronger than some PGA Tour events. And it came a week after Casey notched a top-10 at the Amex. The 43-year-old had only one worldwide top-10 in all of 2020, although that was a pretty darn good one with a runner-up at the PGA Championship. He's now back to 16th OWGR.

Robert MacIntyre
The 24-year-old Scottish left-hander was solo third to move into the top-50 for the first time in his young career at No. 44 (ahead of Tiger Woods, now 46th).

Laurie Canter
The big-hitting Englishman tied for fourth to crack the top-100 OWGR for the first time. It was his fifth top-5 since August, so he surely bears watching. Canter is still looking for his first European Tour win.

Sergio Garcia
He kept a strong stretch going with a tie for sixth (along with Padraig Harrington and Bernd Wiesberger). After winning the Sanderson Farms in the fall, Garcia tied for 11th at Kapalua.

Takumi Kanaya
The former top-ranked amateur who recently turned pro tied for ninth in his European Tour debut. It came a couple of weeks after he missed the cut at the Sony Open. He's on the verge of cracking the top-100 for the first time – he's 105th.