By Martin Dempster
American opens up on being ‘free agent’ as new contract with Saudi-backed circuit remains unsigned
Patrick
Reed dropped a bombshell after winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic,
one of the DP World Tour’s $9 million Rolex Series events, by revealing
that he’s not yet signed up to play in the upcoming LIV Golf season.
“We're
still finalising the contract. We're not complete on that yet,” said
the 35-year-old, speaking at Emirates Golf Club after completing a
four-shot victory to become the fifth American to get his hands on the
iconic Dallah Trophy.
The new LIV Golf season starts in Riyadh next month but, in two
interviews earlier in the week in the UAE, Reed had spoken about how he
was “supposed to be” playing in that. As things stand, it remains to be
seen if he will indeed continue to be a member of the Dustin
Johnson-captained 4Aces team on the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.
Patrick Reed poses with the iconic Dallah Trophy after winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club | Getty Images
“At the moment, yes, sir,” replied the 2019 Masters champion to being
asked if he was technically a free agent before it was also put to him
that it could mean he has played his last LIV event if ongoing
negotiations don’t reach an agreement.
“Not
right now,” he insisted. “Really just all kind of depends on
everything. I mean, I haven't talked to the team back home or anything
like that. But, at the moment, I plan on teeing it up there in Riyadh,
and I'd be surprised if we're not.”
Is
it strictly money or how he feels about the direction of the LIV tour,
which is switching to 72 holes for this season after ditching its
much-vaunted 54-hole format?
‘I don't know where everything stands’
“No,”
he continued. “I mean, it's just one of those things with contracts and
stuff. There's a lot of language and wording in contracts and
everything, and, at this point, I don't know where everything stands.”
Five-time
major winner Brooks Koepka is preparing to make his PGA Tour return
after leaving LIV Golf, with the same opportunity having been offered to
Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith on the strength of them
being major winners as well since 2022.
Reed,
who won The Masters in 2018, described his Dubai title triumph as an
“amazing win” when it was suggested that he now has a good bargaining
tool in his talks with LIV Golf chiefs while, at the same time, perhaps
making PGA Tour chiefs see an opportunity to lure another big name back
to the circuit.
At
the end of a trip to the UAE - he’s also playing on the DP World Tour
in Bahrain next week - that had seen him describe the PGA Tour as the
“best in the world”, Reed talked about having one eye on a pathway back
to the US circuit.
“Continue
to play out here and be in the top ten and be on the PGA Tour next
year,” he said, smiling, of the spots up for grabs through the Race to
Dubai.
In
getting his hands on the iconic Dallah Trophy, the 35-year-old joined
Fred Couples (1995), Mark O’Meara (2004), Tiger Woods (2006 and 2008)
and Bryson DeChambeau (2019) in American sbeing crowned as the Desert
Classic champion.
“I think the biggest thing this week that was so special is I've won on every tour except this one,” Reed told The Scotsman. “Even though online, it says I have three wins, one was a major and two were WGC events. So they are all co-sanctioned events.
‘To close it off means a lot to me’
“It's
something that's always kind of been eating at me, sitting there not
actually having a win over here. To close it off means a lot to me,
especially doing it here in Dubai, which I love coming to, makes it even
more special.”
Four
shots ahead at the start of the day, it looked as though Reed would
need to dig deep to shake off David Puig after the young Spaniard made
great par saves at the first, third and seventh before ramping up the
pressure by holing from 11 feet and five feet for birdies at the eighth
and ninth.
With
Reed going out in one over, it meant his cushion had been halved but,
just when it seemed we were in for a thrilling finish on the Majlis
Course, Puig’s engine started to splutter. Following three bogeys in the
space of five holes from the 11th, it was game over.
Three
years after finishing runner-up, having also been in the top ten last
year, Reed topped the leaderboard with a 14-under-par total. Allowed the
luxury of hitting an iron off the tee at the par-5 18th and taking all
the trouble short of the green out of the equation as he then laid up,
he signed off with a 72, finishing just before the heavens opened in the
UAE, to win by four shots.
“Today
was a lot harder than I expected. I knew it was going to be. I just
couldn't really get anything going on the front nine,” admitted Reed,
who is expected to jump from 44th to around 29th in the world rankings -
his highest position for nearly four years and meaning he’s now likely
to be in all four majors this year. “It's always nice to lock up the
majors,” he admitted.
“I
learned a lot about the round today. Instead of just keeping the foot
on the gas early, I tried to protect my four-shot lead, and next thing
you know, David goes and birdies eight and nine and shuts it down to
two. Even Kess (Karain, his caddie and brother-in-law) was like, ‘hey,
now it's a dogfight. Let's get going. Go shoot under par on the back
nine, no-one will beat you’."
As
Puig, who was handed a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a
bunker at the last to see a 73 turn into a 75, had to settle for a share
of seventh spot on seven under, Englishman Andy Sullivan ended up as
Reed’s closest challenger, catching the edge of the hole with a
knee-knocker for a birdie at the last to come home in 33 as he closed
with a 71.
After
a disappointing 74 to end his week, Emirates Golf Club member Ewen
Ferguson finished joint-33rd on two under, one better than Grant Forrest
(71) in joint-41st, while Richie Ramsay (72) marked his first outing of
the season by squeezing into the top 50 on one over.
