Think You Know Patrick Reed? Think Again!

Patrick Reed’s victory at the 2018 Masters ensured him a guaranteed place in the sporting history books. An undeniably controversial yet hugely entertaining figure, the way he dealt with the pressure on the day to take home the title took the whole pro golfing community by surprise.

Brash, bold and often bizarre, it’s as much Patrick Reed’s general behaviour as his golfing prowess that’s earned him international notoriety. Love him or hate him, he’s by far one of the most interesting personalities the professional circuit has seen in years.

Some might also say a long-overdue personality – someone to bring a little spark back the world’s most hallowed greens. He might not be the typical subject of professional golf posters yet, but he’s well on his way to doing even more incredible things.

His atypical approach and attitude to golf in general had already seen him written-off in the box of many pundits, having failed to win any major title to date. That was then – now, with the 2018 Masters trophy to his name, anyone who fails to take Patrick Reed seriously really is making a huge mistake.

So in the spirit of getting to know this true legend in the making a little better, what follows is a brief overview of just a few things you probably didn’t know about Patrick Reed:

Patrick Reed previously used his wife as his caddie

Famously, Patrick Reed used to bring his wife along to all of his professional golfing engagements as his caddie. Justine only quit the role when she became pregnant with the couple’s first child, after which the job was passed over to her brother, Kessler Karain. He’s still in the picture as of today, keeping the whole thing well and truly in the family as Reed seems to prefer.

He once declared himself one of the world’s five best golfers

Despite the fact that he’d had been experiencing something of a winning streak, this particular claim made at the age of 23 resulted in enormous critical backlash. The primary reason being that at the time, he hadn’t even participated in a single major championship event. His reputation for being outspoken having already been somewhat solidified.

Reed received a set of golf clubs the day he was born

A plastic set of golf clubs albeit, but a set of golf clubs from day one nonetheless. It seemed his future success was pretty much set in stone from the day he was born, so it’s little wonder that by the age of nine, he was practicing all day and had world domination on his mind.

“I’d get there at 7:30 in the morning on snowy days, turn on the heater and hit until noon” Reed said. “I’d go inside, eat a cheeseburger, then resume hitting until dark. You know those huge pails of balls the size of laundry baskets? I’d go through four of those a day. I’d get these world-class blisters on the fourth finger of both hands. I went through a lot of pain. I felt like I was paying a price. I don’t think you can hit as many balls as I did without getting to be pretty good.”

Tiger Woods was a huge inspiration for Reed

Along with watching Tiger’s performances and taking inspiration from his talents, Reed even went so far as to begin wearing the same red and black on Sundays as Tiger does, as a mark of respect.

He once improved his game with a dirty joke

Back in 2016, Tiger Woods noticed that Reed for some reason wasn’t performing nearly at his best. He was too tense and kept losing focus on the range, so team captain Woods called him over for a pep talk. Though apparently, Tiger’s pep talk consisted of nothing but a dirty joke. “It was actually the perfect thing to do,” Reed said. “It just broke the tension. I went back to hitting balls, and all of a sudden I was loose as could be. I was ready.”

Patrick Reed is very superstitious

Like many professional golfers, Patrick Reed is superstitious in the extreme.  Speaking with a golfing magazine a while back, he revealed that he only ever plays with balls that carry the number three and ensures that he has exactly 12 balls in his bag at all times. He uses a 1927 quarter to mark his balls, he carries exactly six tees around with him and insists on using them all before restocking with a new set of six.

Reed refuses to wear shorts in tournaments

At the tender age of 10, Reed noticed that professional golfers never wore shorts when participating in tournaments. As he had every intention of becoming a professional one day, he immediately refused to wear shorts in any of the tournaments he participated in – irrespective of the heat on the day.

Reed had a controversial college experience

There are various yet in all instances completely unsubstantiated reports of Reed breaking rules during qualifying rounds at Georgia, while at the same time removing items from his teammates’ lockers. Reed has stringently denied all such accusations right to this day, insisting he simply left college to focus on turning pro.

He also has a complicated relationship with his parents

When Reed got married in 2012, his mother and his father were excluded from the ceremony. What’s more, it’s now also come to light that he hasn’t spoken with many members of his family for around six years, despite the fact that they’ve been in close proximity to one another on countless occasions.

Reed listens to one very specific song while practicing

Last but not least, music plays a key role in Reed’s concentration when it matters most. According to Reed himself, there’s one specific song that has the perfect tempo and general qualities needed to fire him up on the pitch. “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons, which he listens to on repeat.