NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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It’s not a Rickie Fowler-level of concern yet for Patrick Reed, but we’re getting closer to sounding the alarms.
Reed arrived in Austin, Texas, last week – where he failed to advance out of group play in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play – at No. 28 in the Official World Golf Ranking just 10 months after reaching No. 7 in the world. He hasn’t ranked worse than 28th since the week after the 2014 Open Championship won by a young Rory McIlroy nearly eight years ago.
The dip is highly unusual given Reed’s recent track record. While much of the attention around the former Masters champ has gone to his rules controversies, he has quietly been one of the most consistent elite players in the world. Reed has put together eight consecutive seasons finishing the calendar year inside the top 25 of the world – five of those times, he finished inside the top 15. Reed has also won at least once every year from 2013-21 with the exception of a winless campaign in 2017.
Fowler had a similar run of consistency from 2014-18 where he went five years finishing no worse than No. 12 in the OWGR. He’s now No. 132 in the world as of last week, ranked behind the likes of Julien Brun, Sadom Kaewkanjana and Scott Vincent.
If Reed is heading toward a similar fate as Fowler, he can point to his driver play as the main reason why. Reed came into last week ranked No. 205 in strokes gained off-the-tee and No. 195 in driving distance at an average of 285.3 yards this season. Two seasons ago, he ranked No. 42 in strokes gained off-the-tee and averaged 296 yards per drive – more than 10 yards longer than this season. He has never been among the more powerful players on the PGA Tour, but Reed had consistently been slightly north of tour average in driving distance prior to the past two seasons, which saw a precipitous decline.
The big question in this is how much of a factor equipment has played.
Reed has been using a PXG GEN4 driver since last October and officially signed a contract with PXG this January, although he has maintained a mixed bag beyond adding the brand’s driver. He had previously been playing a 9-degree Titleist TSi3 and has used other brands throughout his career, including a Ping G400 LST in his 2018 Masters victory.
Reed has lauded the new PXG driver as “unbelievable” but has also indicated growing pains with new swing changes that he and David Leadbetter began to implement this past December. A reliable drawer of the ball, Reed has been seen trying to reduce the amount of face rotation through impact to accommodate different shot shapes.
There is still uncertainty whether his lack of power can be attributed to the new driver, swing changes, a combination of both or another factor entirely.
“I knew to get to where I wanted to get to, which is hopefully to have a chance to get to No. 1 in the world, you have to do every aspect really well,” Reed said prior to the Saudi International earlier this year. “I felt like this was a change that needed to be made. I’ve seen where it can go. I’ve played some rounds of golf and made some swings in practice and stuff and you see how the ball flight is and the control ability that you have and I know it’s the right thing to do. It’s just going to take time, obviously.”
PXG drivers have been a relative nonfactor on tour, while the brand’s irons have gained far more traction. Luke List, Hudson Swafford and Jason Kokrak are among those who have recently won using PXG irons, but all three have TaylorMade drivers.
Complicating matters, it hasn’t just been the driver that is an issue. Reed came into the week ranked No. 201 in strokes gained approach – he is continuing to use a custom set of Grindworks irons that has stayed in his bag the past three years – and his normally stellar putting has also fallen on hard times. After ranking No. 4 and No. 12 in strokes gained putting the last two seasons, he came into last week at No. 30 for the season.
One more gear note from Austin: Scottie Scheffler has now earned $6.173 million since changing to a Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS Prototype prior to the WM Phoenix Open. This past week also marked Scheffler's first victory using a TaylorMade Stealth Plus fairway wood, the club that finally replaced his Nike VR Pro.
Meanwhile, Chad Ramey won with a full TaylorMade bag at the Corales Puntacana Championship. The former Mississippi State Bulldog used a Stealth Plus driver, SIM2 fairway wood, SIM2 Max hybrid, P7MC irons, MG3 wedges, a Spider GT Notchback putter and a TP5x ball.
Sean Fairholm