CHASKA, Minn. — The United States hasn’t had a real Ryder Cup hero of late. Not the way Europe has had with Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and, more recently, Colin Montgomerie.
Now it does.
His name is Patrick Nathaniel Reed.
It will be hard to mention Reed and not think of this weekend at Hazeltine National Golf Club where he went from a golfer with major championship potential to a Ryder Cup legend. In the end, the United States smoked Europe, 17-11, to win the Cup for the first time in eight years, a margin that suggests it was an easy experience. But when you bring all the baggage the U.S. was carrying from recent Ryder Cup failures, nothing comes easy.
The snowball in the avalanche that buried the Europeans was started by Reed, who took down the mouthy Rory McIlroy, 1-up, in a momentum-setting opening match. The “Miracle at Medinah” where Europe rallied from a 10-6 deficit to win the Cup started with winning the first five singles matches. Reed made sure there wasn’t going to be a repeat of that, capturing the match to extend the American lead from 9 ½-6 ½ after two days to 10 ½-6 ½. It made Europe’s uphill climb even steeper.
“We knew how important that first point was,” Reed said. “I didn’t want to let my team down by all of a sudden having a blue score up off the first match. Getting sent out first, the last thing I wanted to do was go out and lose. He felt the same way.”
It’s considered one of the greatest matches in Ryder Cup history, an epic battle worthy of all the attention it received going in with the emotional Reed going against McIlroy, who had been channeling his best Conor McGregor, taunting, screaming and willing his team throughout the matches.
Sent off by the boisterous crowd at the first tee, McIlroy went 1-up with a birdie on the third hole. But Reed answered by driving the green and making eagle at the par-4 5th hole to get the match all-square. They each then made remarkable birdies on their next three holes, including the eighth where McIlroy went berserk after draining a 60-footer.
Once the native of Northern Ireland finished his out-of-control gyrations Reed matched the birdie by draining a 25-footer from off the edge. Reed celebrated with his own thrusting of the hips and wagging of his finger at McIlroy. Game on.
At the par-4 12th, Reed made a 10-footer for par to win the hole and go 1-up. McIlroy missed a short putt at 13 that would have squared the match. Reed then made birdie at the par-5 16th out of a green-side bunker to go 2-up. Though he lost the 17, Reed ended it by draining a dramatic birdie putt. Reed finished with an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys while McIlroy had six birdies and three bogeys.
McIlroy said fatigue might have worked against him. He played in all five matches and spent enormous energy each day with his emotional outbursts. “For the first eight holes I was doing well then I just ran out of steam,” he said. “Patrick was playing well and I just didn’t quite have enough at the end to try and stop him.”
Reed put off some people when he declared a few years ago that he was one of the top five players in the world. No one would argue with him now. “Having these crowds picking us up, cheering our names, it gets you going and keeps you going,” Reed said. “If you hit a bad shot, they pick you up so can get out of it. If you hit a good shot, it just builds more momentum over the putts.”
Ryder Cup hero indeed.