Patrick Reed knows his chances of being on Team USA at September’s Ryder Cup are slim, but the three-time Ryder Cupper still believes he has one avenue to make the team at Bethpage Black.
That avenue arrives next month when the 153rd Open Championship is contested at Royal Portrush. Reed, who has very few avenues to earn ranking points as a member of LIV Golf, is looking to the final major of the year as a way to kick the door down to Team USA.
“It’s always on your mind,” Reed said on Wednesday ahead of LIV’s Dallas event. “Anytime I get to represent our country, it means a lot to me. For me personally, I’m always thinking about trying to make every team. Obviously, being a part of LIV where we don’t get points, it’s an uphill battle, but really, for me, it’s focused on playing some great golf and having a chance. It’s really going to come down to the Open Championship, having a chance to win there. You have a really good showing and play well there, then you just never know. It is looking like no matter what, it’s going to rely on a pick unless I go ahead and win the Open. Really, the only way I can focus on the Ryder Cup is that one week, go out and give all I have and have a chance to win.”
Reed qualified for The Open Championship by winning the Asian Tour International Series event in Macau back in March.
He currently sits in 33rd place in the American Ryder Cup points standings with 2821.82 points. Players earn 1.5 points per $1,000 made at major championships. Even if he were to win the Open Championship, he’d only earn roughly 4650 points, which would likely put him just outside the top 10 at 7,471.82 points. Currently, Harris English is in 10th place with 7,666.52 points, so even with an Open Championship win, Reed would still require a captain’s pick from Keegan Bradley. Given the context of Reed’s last go-around with Team USA — Reed questioned captain Jim Furyk about the breakup of his pairing with Jordan Spieth and claimed Tiger Woods apologized to him for playing poorly during a lost match — it’s not a likely bet that Reed would get the nod. Nonetheless, the 34-year-old still weighed in on the biggest question facing Team USA: Will Keegan Bradley pick himself to be on the team?
“Honestly, for me, if I was in his shoes, if I felt like I was playing as the top 12, inside that top 12, then I’d play,” Reed said. “The thing about being a captain, it’s about putting the best team forward, no matter who it is, and whoever is in the best form is obviously one of those guys that I’d make sure is on the team. If he continues playing the way he’s playing and continues competing on Sundays and having a chance to win, I’m all for it. It’s all what he feels like is the best for the team, and if that means him playing is best for the team, that’s what you have amazing vice captains for is to take over that role if you’re out there having a chance to play and have a good chance for the U.S. to bring the Cup home.”
On Sunday, Bradley pulled off a dramatic win at the Travelers Championship, where he drained a five-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to stun Tommy Fleetwood. Afterward, Bradley, who has said he would only play on the team if he qualifies on points, changed his tune on potentially picking himself as a captain’s selection.
“This changes the story a little bit,” Bradley, who is now ranked 7th in the world, said. “I never would have thought about playing if I hadn’t won. This definitely opens the door to play. I don’t know if I’m going to do it or not, but I certainly have to take a pretty hard look at what’s best for the team and we’ll see. We still go — it’s still June, so we still got a long ways to go. This definitely changes things a little bit, and we’ll all get together and figure out the best way to do this.”
Team USA is starting to take shape. Bradley is trending toward being the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1962.
As for Reed, he’ll have to win the Open Championship and hope that his long-shot plan is good enough to make his first Ryder Cup team in seven years.
