If a Masters champion shoots 59 in the middle of the night, does it make a sound?
Certainly! Patrick Reed did exactly that while American golf fans were sleeping, taking a three-shot lead Saturday at the Hong Kong Open, an International Series event. And while it will go a long way to helping him win on the offshoot, feeder tour for LIV Golf, does that round actually count? Like, officially?
Unfortunately for Reed, the answer is a bit complicated, as the third round was contested under a preferred lies provision given recent weather in the area.
When it comes to shooting a score for a specific tournament, every round obviously counts, but in terms of setting a scoring record on a given day, the record books of different tours use different stipulations. For decades, the PGA Tour has allowed preferred lies rounds to count as official rounds in the record books. But on the DP World Tour, mostly based in Europe, rounds contested under lift, clean and place do not count in the official record books.
Okay, fair enough. But how about the International Series on the Asian Tour? The series itself is only a few years old, launched in 2022 as part of a massive investment from LIV Golf. The record round on the Asian Tour was a 59 shot by John Catlin just six months ago. Catlin, who filled in for Charles Howell III on Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers team this summer, ironically put that show on in front of Reed, his playing partner that day.
Importantly, though, Catlin’s 59 was shot under normal conditions. And the Asian Tour does not allow for preferred lies rounds to stand in its record books, nullifying the historical nature of Reed’s round. That said, you can only shoot the best round under the conditions and situation in front of you. Reed’s 59 is still a 59 — though it came on a 6,710-yard par-70 — and a 59 was more than nine shots better than the field average in that third round. That makes it pretty darn great.
In the end, the round may be less historic than it is iconic. Reed admitted to having a brutal warmup before reaching the 1st tee.
“I got up, I felt a little tight but felt ready to go and got out here and had probably one of the worst warmups ever,” Reed said. “I looked at my caddy, and he goes, ‘Hey, a warmup is a warmup, let’s go out and just play golf.’ He goes, ‘Some of your best rounds have come from a poor warmup.’”
Reed followed that pep talk by birdieing the opening five holes, then finishing with birdies on the final four, including a 15-footer that curled in on the last. He’ll now begin the final round with a three-shot lead over Rashid Khan and Nitihorn Thippong. While it may not be the strength of field Reed is accustomed to, it would stand as his first win since the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour.
It was at that point in his career that Reed was ranked in the top 10, rising as high as sixth in the world, according to DataGolf. But the last few years have been more of a struggle as Reed has gone winless on LIV Golf and dipped down the ranking. According to DataGolf, he checks in at 49th in the world at the moment.