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USA in Position to Break Ryder Cup Drought Thanks to Patrick Reed’s Birdie Binge
- Updated: October 2, 2016
With an animated wave of a hand, Patrick Reed gestured toward the crowd of boisterous fans standing a few feet away, many of them singing songs or chanting his name.
He’d contested two fierce matches in the Ryder Cup on Saturday, and while the roars had finally begun to subside, there were times when it seemed as though all 45,000 on the property at Hazeltine National Golf Club were screaming in decibel-busting unison at his shots.
His ears practically ringing from the cacophony of noise, Reed tried to explain why, of all the places to play the most impressive golf of his career, it has happened this week with much of the sporting world watching with jaws dropped.
Answer: It’s seemingly hardwired into his DNA.
“I mean, I was made for this kind of stuff,” Reed told the Golf Channel. “Anytime I can get in front of a crowd, especially the Americans, and have the red, white and blue on, it just fuels me.”
After years of watching favored American teams underachieve at the biggest event in golf, often losing in humiliating fashion, the animated 26-year-old from Texas appears to be the guy capable of taking the Yanks to their second Ryder Cup of the millennium.
With a scintillating round in the second session of play on Saturday, Reed led the Americans to a 9.5 to 6.5 lead heading into Sunday singles play. The Americans, who haven’t hoisted the Ryder Cup since 2008, need to secure five points from the 12 matches in singles play to reclaim the trophy.
Brash, with occasional flashes of downright cockiness, Reed dragged partner Jordan Spieth through the afternoon session with an uncanny display of shots that had the partisan crowd going ballistic. Whenever Europe seemed poised to make a run, Reed threw down another lightning bolt, finishing with seven birdies and an eagle over 17 holes of a 2 and 1 win.
Incredible. He birdied No. 16, too. pic.twitter.com/wPRDO6dOqv
— Steve Elling (@EllingYelling) October 1, 2016
“Patrick pulled a Patrick this afternoon,” Spieth told reporters.
He almost seemed unstoppable, for good reason. Early in …
