This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
One of the most perplexing questions about the Astros and their sign-stealing scandal has been: Why would they do it, why would they need to do it, since they clearly were already among the best teams? The same could be asked of Patrick Reed.
Going toe-to-toe against current and former top-five golfers, Reed played the smartest and steadiest of them all to win the WGC-Mexico by one stroke on Sunday at Chapultepec. It was his eighth career victory, and five of them have been huge: a major, two playoff events and now two WGCs. Reed thus moves to No. 8 in the world, one position off his career best.
Six golfers jockeyed atop the leaderboard as a wild day of golf developed. Along with Reed, there was world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 3 Jon Rahm, No. 4 Justin Thomas, one-time top-five Bryson DeChambeau and emerging South African Erik van Rooyen. All of them made mistakes – all except Reed, who played bogey-free until he was able to withstand a lone blemish on 18.
The whole week unfolded under the backdrop of renewed allegations against Reed, this time from former CBS announcer Peter Kostis on the No Laying Up podcast.
Some will view this win as redemption of sorts for Reed, who fittingly was adorned in black pants, black shirt and black hat. Cara Banks on Golf Channel opened the post-tournament Gold Central by saying that Reed was "trying to rewrite his recent narrative." Maybe
One of the most perplexing questions about the Astros and their sign-stealing scandal has been: Why would they do it, why would they need to do it, since they clearly were already among the best teams? The same could be asked of Patrick Reed.
Going toe-to-toe against current and former top-five golfers, Reed played the smartest and steadiest of them all to win the WGC-Mexico by one stroke on Sunday at Chapultepec. It was his eighth career victory, and five of them have been huge: a major, two playoff events and now two WGCs. Reed thus moves to No. 8 in the world, one position off his career best.
Six golfers jockeyed atop the leaderboard as a wild day of golf developed. Along with Reed, there was world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, No. 3 Jon Rahm, No. 4 Justin Thomas, one-time top-five Bryson DeChambeau and emerging South African Erik van Rooyen. All of them made mistakes – all except Reed, who played bogey-free until he was able to withstand a lone blemish on 18.
The whole week unfolded under the backdrop of renewed allegations against Reed, this time from former CBS announcer Peter Kostis on the No Laying Up podcast.
Some will view this win as redemption of sorts for Reed, who fittingly was adorned in black pants, black shirt and black hat. Cara Banks on Golf Channel opened the post-tournament Gold Central by saying that Reed was "trying to rewrite his recent narrative." Maybe he was, but he can't, just like the Astros can't, even if they win the next World Series or three.
The truth is, Reed has an elite short game. He's one of the best putters on Tour and is a superior wedge player – he led the Mexico field in putting and was third in scrambling. That's how he won the Masters (and really how everyone has won it). His short game is so good it covers up the bad stuff – and there's lots of bad stuff. Reed averaged only 283 yards off the tee coming into the week, which was outside the top-200 in the PGA Tour rankings. On top of that, he was 169th in driving accuracy and 173rd in greens in regulation. Really, that's a horrible collection of numbers.
So the fact that Reed can not only compete but excel is a marvel in this era of 350-yard drives. He should be Exhibit A and the poster boy all rolled into one for those who don't want to dial back on distance or change the golf ball. Unfortunately, Reed is also a poster boy for something else.
In his postmatch session with reporters, Reed talked about wanting to set a "good example for the next generation coming up, the children, as well as my own children. … That's all I can do, and I feel I've been doing a good job of that."
Um. Huh? Say again?
That's Reed's story, and, as we have seen time and time again now, he's sticking to it.
So is it possible to enjoy all Reed has accomplished and will still accomplish – would it surprise anyone if he won another major, say, in about seven weeks?
In other words, is it possible to appreciate the golf but not the golfer?
We can't answer that. But we do know one thing: Patrick Reed doesn't care either way.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Bryson DeChambeau
Sunday was just the latest punch in the gut for DeChambeau (good thing he's been working out). He impressively hung tough all weekend and even shot a 65 on Sunday. But he made one critical mistake -- a three-putt bogey on 17. Still, looking back at DeChambeau's last four events, he's been great. There was a tie for fifth last week at Riviera and a tie for eighth in Dubai. DeChambeau has certainly taken a lot of shots the past year -- not that he hasn't put the bull's-eye on his own chest – but he may be coming through it. He just has to stick to golf. Trying to explain away slow play, of picking a fight with Brooks Koepka, that stuff just won't end well for him. When he plays golf, he's showing what he's capable of.
Erik van Rooyen
The South African had a win and three runners-up on the European Tour last year, but his tie for third at Chapultepec was the best finish of his career in terms of world-rankings points. Van Rooyen also got a bunch of FedEx Cup points, though not yet enough to be eligible for special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. He is up to 40th in the OWGR and clearly has game – he was top-10 at the PGA last year and top-20 at the past two Open Championships. Van Rooyen is in the field this week at the Honda on a sponsor invite, along with Kurt Kitayama, Ryo Ishikawa and this next guy …
Lee Westwood
At age 46, Westwood followed up last month's win at Abu Dhabi with a top-25 in Mexico – T22, to be precise. Chapultepec is a shorter course where short game matters a lot, just like it does at Augusta. As we get closer to the Masters and Westwood maintains good form, he should be on your radar come April. But first, we'll see him this week at the Honda.
Tyrrell Hatton
We know Hatton has played the Mexico tournament great in the past, including a T3 in 2018, but this was his first start in four months (wrist injury). Chalk up another one for course-history buffs, as Hatton tied for sixth to move to No. 31 in the world rankings.
Abraham Ancer
In previous years, Ancer got into the field because he's Mexican. This year, he got in because of his world ranking. Much to the delight of the crowd, Ancer tied for 12th, and that moved him to a career-best 27th OWGR. Already this year, Ancer has a runner-up at the Amex and a tie for sixth at Saudi Arabia. He keeps on coming.
Benjamin Hebert
The 33-year-old Frenchman qualified based on last season's play on the European Tour, which included three runners-up. Hebert acquitted himself nicely in his first WGC by tying for 18th. He's played in only two majors, including a tie for 41st last year at Royal Portrush. Hebert now stands at a career-best 89th in the OWGR.
Dustin Johnson
It is now officially a full year since Johnson won a tournament. That's right, the 2019 WGC-Mexico is his most recent win. This year, Johnson was never a factor at the tournament, which he won two of the three previous years, opening with a 76 and tying for 48th. He's still fifth in the world and has had some close calls recently. He was second in Saudi Arabia and a misleading T10 two weeks ago at Riviera, where he was in contention deep into Sunday. But now you've got to ask: Will Johnson win a tournament in 2020? He's won at least once in 11 of the past 12 years, with the lone blemish being 2014, when he took a vacation/sabbatical/personal leave/whatever it was.
Tae Hee Lee
The Korean was the lowest-ranked golfer in the field, in the low 500s OWGR, and it showed. Lee finished in last place in the field of 72, four clear of the next finisher, Sung Kang. Inviting golfers from lesser tours around the world is a component in WGC events – after all, the W stands for "world." But of the eight golfers invited from those tours – two each from the Asian, Australasian, Japan and Sunshine (South Africa) – none finished in the top-25. Zander Lombard from South Africa tied for 26th, and that's actually one of the better results from this group.
Viktor Hovland
Matthew Wolff did it, Collin Morikawa did it, and now Hovland has won a PGA Tour event. In dramatic fashion, the 22-year-old drained a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open. Hovland is now up to 60th in the world – ahead of Wolff and close to Morikawa – but he's not in the Masters yet. He has about a month to jump 10 more spaces, beginning this week at the Honda Classic, though we won't be expecting much for two reasons. 1) Hovland will probably be celebrating until his tee time on Thursday. 2) If you can't scramble, you won't do well at PGA National.
Josh Teater
Teater was excruciatingly on the wrong end of Hovland's winning putt, leaving him one shot shy of a life-altering moment. The 40-year-old has never won in almost 200 career PGA Tour starts, so this opportunity may never come again. He'd missed 6-of-8 cuts coming in while playing in the 126-150 category – he's had his card just one of the past six years. So moving to 95th in the FedEx standings is a really big deal for Teater, who will need about 125 more points to secure his card for next season. The top-10 gets him into the Honda, but imagine what that two-year exemption would've meant? Teater has one other career runner-up. It came at the 2013 Farmers Insurance Open won by Tiger Woods.
