AUGUSTA, Ga. — Patrick Reed wants to make one thing clear:
He’s still rooting for the Aces.
“Really, at the end of the day, I really enjoyed all my time over there at LIV,” Reed said on Monday in a pre-Masters press conference. “It was a blast. Those guys are fun to be around, fun to play with. Especially there on the 4Aces. I still pull for them.”
Reed is an ex-Ace now and an ex-LIV golfer. He’s enjoyed seeing his former team captain Dustin Johnson this week, he said, even as he enters this year’s Masters in fascinating inter-tour limbo. He’s still suspended from the PGA Tour until late summer, which means he’s post-LIV and pre-PGA Tour, left with a limited DP World Tour schedule plus the major championships — and more time at home than he’s used to.
That part has its perks.
“I have no idea when the last time was I took three or four weeks off before Augusta. It’s been an unbelievable break,” said Reed, who has two wins and a runner-up finish in six DP World Tour starts this year. “I’ve been out there obviously grinding, working on the game, but having the opportunity to take little man [his son] over to some golf lessons and then go to St. Louis with my daughter for volleyball tournaments.”
So what led to his LIV departure? Reed offered some specifics, suggesting that family time was a factor — “My daughter is now eleven; my little man’s eight. It seems like time has flown. I definitely want to watch them grow up and be home a little bit more; yet still at the same time to play against the best guys,” he said — but that a specific competitive moment served as a catalyst for change.
It came in his second event of the season, the Dubai Desert Classic, when he went into the weekend in contention.
“Yeah, it definitely happened quickly, but it was one of those that, when I was over there in Dubai and playing, I really just kind of was sitting back and realizing that I wanted to get back and not only have an opportunity back on the PGA Tour, but get back to the traditional way of golf and playing,” he said, describing the rhythm of a traditional sequential tee-time tournament rather than LIV’s shotgun start.
“When I stood there in Dubai, that Saturday the entire range is full, and then guys just start disappearing, and you’re the last man on that tee box. Then you’re walking to the tee, you’re the last name announced, and you’ve lost the lead because someone is five under through 8. All those just rushes and those scenarios, going back into playing golf that way, where you’re going out there and you’re having the battles between not just yourself, but the other guys on the leaderboard. For me, I wanted that back, I wanted that adrenaline back, and those feelings, especially with the way I played those last three weeks. But really there in Dubai.”
Reed was still negotiating with LIV at the time, working out terms for the 2026 season. Because he wasn’t under contract, he said, and departure became a plausible option.
“We had an offer, but at the end of the day, it was kind of one of those that, when I sat down at the end of the day and talked with my wife and my team, I just felt like the best decision for us was to come back and join the PGA Tour so I could be closer to home and with the family,” Reed said. “Yeah, there’s nothing that I felt like was going on between LIV and us or anything like that. Like I said, we had a contract, had a deal, but at the end of the day, I felt like the best thing for us was to come to the PGA Tour again.”
On Jan. 28, the Tour announced Reed’s plans to return “later this year” with his eyes on reinstating membership for the 2027 season. He would have some status as a past champion — and would seek to earn more by playing on the DP World Tour, which offers PGA Tour cards to its top 10 points-getters.
“Obviously it helps playing that type of golf when you’re making a decision like that,” Reed said. “The golf game feels solid. I feel like every tool in my golf bag right now is sharp and ready to go. Now it’s just kind of go out and play golf and just have clear pictures while I’m out there and just go out and have some fun.”
He currently leads the Race to Dubai with 2,340 points, nearly 500 ahead of second-place Jayden Schaper. This week, there are more points up for grabs. Reed says he’s just eager to have that chance.
“There’s just something so special about this place, the traditions behind it, and then on top of it, it’s the one major that stays in the same place,” he said. Reed has five top-12s in his last six Masters starts and finished T3 last year; this is a place he feels at home. “All the way back from when I played my first time ever here, even when we played in November that one year, and any time I’ve come back and played it, it’s always in perfect shape. It’s one of those golf courses that you can’t hit just one golf shot, you have to play golf kind of an old-school way. You have to hit shots, different shapes, different flights and everything.
“I feel like it’s the best test of golf we play all year round. For a guy that’s played just about everywhere in the world, I say hands down it’s the best test of golf and best golf course I’ve ever played.”
Even as the rest of his schedule changes, one thing’s for sure:
Reed will be back at Augusta National this time next year, too.
Dylan Dethier is a senior writer for GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com. The Williamstown, Mass. native joined GOLF in 2017 after two years scuffling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams College, where he majored in English, and he’s the author of 18 in America, which details the year he spent as an 18-year-old living from his car and playing a round of golf in every state.
