Patrick Reed, the reigning Masters champion, has been struggling lately. After opening with three straight rounds of 69 at the Players Championship last week, Reed closed with a very disappointing 78.
His struggles continued this week at the Valspar Championship where he missed the cut after carding an opening round 77 and second round 75. However, prior to his second round, Reed was spotted on the driving range with noted swing instructor David Leadbetter.
Leadbetter with Reed the Range at Valspar. pic.twitter.com/3thxpgFGfz
— Garrett Johnston (@JohnstonGarrett) March 22, 2019
I confirmed w Patrick Reed’s caddie, Kevin Kirk’s still his teacher.
The @TheMasters champ just wants another set of eyes to look at him this morning after his last 2 rounds in the hi 70s.
This was decided between Reed and @davidleadbetter Thurs to meet this am.@ValsparChamp pic.twitter.com/WBW6plSaWJ— Garrett Johnston (@JohnstonGarrett) March 22, 2019
Apparently, Leadbetter was given a phone call by none other than Reed’s wife, Justine. Justine used to serve as her husband’s caddie before she became pregnant with their first child at which time her brother, Kessler Karain took over caddying duties.
Leadbetter spoke about the call from Justine and then about the change he spotted in Reed’s swing.
“Justine said, ‘Hey, listen, would you be prepared just to have a look at Patrick? He’s struggling at the moment. He’s sort of lost a little bit.,’ Obviously you’ve got a world-class player, and I look at golf swings all the time, so I know swings. And I’ve always liked his golf swing.
“I just saw this swing and it was like, man. I wouldn’t say Bubba-ish, but it was longer than I remembered. And I thought, ‘Wow, that looks a little bit different.’ The swing was getting a lot longer than it was, even his wife noticed that.”
Kessler noted that this was just a second set of eyes on his swing.
“He just wants a second set of eyes on his swing. The last couple rounds he’s been a completely different golfer.”
Reed also spoke openly about Justine’s call to Leadbetter and her ability to spot something different in his swing after his second round.
“The great thing is we’re basically on the same wavelength, her and I,” Reed said. “Because of that, before I even finished my round I didn’t even have to tell her that, ‘Hey, is there any way we can get someone in to just take a peek.’”
As Golf Channel’s Will Gray points out, this is Reed’s first missed cut this season and although it doesn’t appear like it’s quite time to pull the panic button ahead of a trip to Augusta, there’s definitely something off.
The stats indicate that Reed has reason to reach for the panic button. His results have been respectable, with five top-25s this year, and this week’s missed cut is his first since the PGA Championship in August.
But the ball-striking numbers are eye-catching for all the wrong reasons, and they portend larger issues: Reed is 116th this season in strokes gained: off-the-tee, and he’s 147th in strokes gained: approach. His world-class short game has saved him in spurts, as it did last week when he played his first 54 holes at TPC Sawgrass in 9 under, but the ball-striking woes have been catching up to him with increased frequency.
So, similar to Spieth, Reed is struggling off the tee and on approach to the green, and if you can’t do those two things well you definitely can’t contend at the Masters.
However, Reed doesn’t appear to be worried yet.
“Just need to stop putting so much pressure on the good parts of my game. When you do that, then all of a sudden when things just aren’t clicking, it turns out to be a little tougher out there.
“These past two days, yeah, the score sucks, but it’s a lot closer than what the score was these past two days. I’m not too worried about it.”
NBC’s Gary Koch told Golf.com that there must be a sense of urgency if a new swing instructor is called in this close to the Masters.
“Doing this with another coach this close to the Masters shows the sense of urgency Reed’s feeling. I don’t recall in my time seeing this happen in all my years I’ve been watching the Masters.”
“Doing this with another coach this close to the Masters shows the sense of urgency Reed’s feeling.” @GolfChannel and @NBCSports commentator Gary Koch told me of the Masters champ warming up with @davidleadbetter today. pic.twitter.com/L9HTrf384U
— Garrett Johnston (@JohnstonGarrett) March 22, 2019
I’m with Koch here. I’m not sure finishing at 10-over on a course that you finished tied for second with Tiger Woods on last year shows that the game is closer than the score makes it appear to be.
Reed is definitely going to have to fix whatever his issues are quickly if he wants to have any chance at defending his Masters title and winning a second major championship. He hasn’t won since the 2018 Masters.
[Image via Patrick Reed]
