Patrick Nathaniel Reed (born August 5, 1990) is an American professional golfer. He has nine tournament victories on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2018 Masters Tournament, and two World Golf Championships, the 2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship and 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship. In 2022, he joined LIV Golf.
Reed has represented the United States in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team competitions. Through his performances in the Ryder Cup, he has acquired the nickname "Captain America".
Early life and amateur career
Reed was born in 1990 in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from University High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While there, he won the 2006 Junior Open Championship and also qualified for the U.S. Amateur in 2007. Reed led University High to state championships in 2006 and 2007, and also won the state medalist honors in 2007. He earned Rolex AJGA All-America honors in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Reed started his college golf career in 2008 at the University of Georgia in Athens. While at Georgia, Reed had an arrest for underage drinking and possessing a fake ID. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was put on probation, fined and sentenced to 60 hours of community service. After further issues that resulted in his dismissal from the team, he then left Georgia and enrolled at Augusta State University, where he majored in business. He helped lead Augusta State to NCAA Division I titles in 2010 and 2011. Reed advanced to the semi-finals of the 2008 U.S. Amateur, where he lost 3&2 to eventual U.S. Amateur champion Danny Lee – the top-ranked amateur in the world. He won the 2010 Jones Cup Invitational.
Professional career
2011
Reed was 20 years old when he turned professional in 2011 after the NCAA Championship. In June, he played in his first PGA Tour event, the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where he missed the cut. Reed played two more events in 2011, earning just over $20,000. He played two events on the Nationwide Tour and earned just over $5,000.
2012
Reed played in 12 events on the PGA Tour on sponsors exemptions and through Monday qualifying (six times). He made seven cuts and earned over $300,000. His best finish was T-11 at the Frys.com Open. He finished T-22 at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, after entering at the First Stage, to earn his PGA Tour card for 2013.
2013
Reed picked up his first top-10 finish at the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. On August 18, Reed became the 12th first-time PGA Tour winner of the year with his victory at the Wyndham Championship in a playoff against Jordan Spieth. His win at Sedgefield Country Club also marked his third consecutive top-10 finish.
2014
At the 2014 Humana Challenge, Reed set the PGA Tour record for most strokes under par after 54 holes. His rounds of 63-63-63, were 27-under-par. The tournament's first three rounds are played on three different courses. The previous record was 25-under-par, set by Gay Brewer at the 1967 Pensacola Open and tied by Ernie Els at the 2003 Mercedes Championships, Pat Perez at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic (the previous name of the Humana event) and Steve Stricker at the 2010 John Deere Classic. All four other players won those tournaments. It was also the first time in PGA Tour history that a player opened a tournament with three rounds of 63 or better. Reed won the tournament by two strokes over Ryan Palmer.
On March 9, Reed won the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida. He earned $1.53 million with the one-shot win over Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson. Reed became only the fifth golfer to earn three PGA Tour wins before his 24th birthday since 1990, joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Sergio García. Jordan Spieth subsequently achieved that feat. Reed is the youngest winner of a WGC event, and the victory also moved him to 20th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Reed was also the first PGA Tour golfer to have three wins before playing in his first major, the 2014 Masters.
Also in 2014, Reed finished 5th at the Volvo World Match Play Championship.
2015
On January 12, Reed won his fourth PGA Tour title at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions by defeating Jimmy Walker in a sudden death playoff. He became just the fourth player in the last two decades to win four times on the PGA Tour before his 25th birthday, the other three were Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Sergio García. The win moved Reed to a career-best OWGR ranking of 14th. Also, he finished second at the Valspar Championship, third at the Hero World Challenge, and seventh at the Honda Classic. Reed also joined the European Tour for the 2015 season.