Henry McKenna
NFL Reporter
It wasn’t easy getting Patrick Reed to talk about golf. Turns out, he’s much more interested in chatting about the NFL and his Houston Texans. Reed loves team sports. He’s a C.J. Stroud apologist and went so far as to say that Dak Prescott isn’t a top 10 quarterback and, if Stroud were a Cowboy, would prove he was one of the NFL’s best at his position.
Reed’s takes were so hot that I didn’t want to change the subject. So I figured: Let’s talk golf and football — all at once. Which NFL QB would Reed compare his game to?
“Problem is, I look at these NFL quarterbacks and I’m not the most mobile guy in the world,” he said with a chuckle. “I mean, it’s hard not to say Joe Burrow or Jayden Daniels. I love those guys, because I went to high school on the LSU campus.”
How else would Reed compare himself to them?
“I’ve always been vocal. I try to lead, even if it’s my team or not. I try to set by example. Work hard and really just try to get the guys going,” Reed said. “And really, that’s the role of all quarterbacks, right? I mean, they’re the ones that are supposed to be the leaders of the teams. I want to pump up teams — to be the one that gets the guys going.”
Patrick Reed is enjoying a strong season on LIV, sitting sixth in the standings.
If you feel like — over the course of his answer — he’s making his case to serve on the Ryder Cup team, you’re probably not wrong. He’s a longshot. But he’s holding out hope.
That only builds the pressure for Reed heading into LIV Golf Indianapolis this weekend. On the LIV Tour, he currently sits sixth the season-long standings, with six finishes inside the top-ten and an individual win at LIV Dallas in June. He won’t make the Ryder Cup team competing in September based on points alone, but maybe he can get hot enough to convince team captain Keegan Bradley to select him.
“To be honest with you, obviously, being part of LIV, it’s a little harder, right?” Reed said. “Most likely everyone that’s a part of LIV is going to rely on a pick — unless you do something spectacular, like Bryson [DeChambeau] has accomplished within the majors.”
Reed is “Captain America.” He earned the nickname in 2014 when he served as an electrical pressure for the U.S. Staff. And that’s not the one factor that caught with him from that specific Ryder Cup. Reed mentioned he met a wounded U.S. army veteran who gifted the golfer an American Flag. Since that day in 2014, that flag has not left Reed’s bag — not for a single observe or event.
“That reveals what this nation means to me,” Reed mentioned.
The Ryder Cup has a particular place in Reed’s coronary heart. However his success — with a 7-3-2 particular person report — has not been with out controversy. He hasn’t gotten together with each single one in all his teammates. Former members of Staff USA have spoken about it. He spoke overtly about that.
“Once I was on PGA Tour earlier than LIV, it was one occasion a 12 months the place you are part of a group on the President’s Cup or Ryder Cup. So you are taking all these people after which being like, ‘Hey, y’all know the right way to be finest buddies for this one week.’ That was laborious to determine,” he mentioned. “You’ve got completely different personalities. When it is simply your self on the market on that leaderboard, you will have your group at house and stuff, however you are the alpha. And so now you are placing 12 alphas in the identical room and being like, ‘Hey, y’all have to fix and merge and construct that camaraderie.’”
Patrick is keen for one more shot at Ryder Cup glory.
Reed mentioned he felt like issues have been completely different for him now. Not solely is he among the many world’s finest golfers, however he additionally thinks he’s grown as a teammate, thanks largely to his work on the LIV Tour, the place he’s teammates with captain Dustin Johnson, Harold Varner and Thomas Pieters on the 4Aces, who sit at fifth within the group standings.
Reed indicated he is labored laborious to know the right way to work inside that group.
“Being part of LIV, we all know how that [team dynamic] is,” Reed mentioned. “We all know the right way to adapt. We all know the right way to attain completely different personalities, the right way to really feel, to deal with them. …I really feel like I’ve grown quite a bit on that facet. And , due to that, I really feel like I might be an enormous asset for the group.”
Even when Reed doesn’t find yourself making the group this 12 months, which he has acknowledged will likely be a “uphill battle,” there may very well be prospects down the road. For instance, what about as a group captain?
“That’d be superior. After all,” he mentioned. “For me, something that has to do with the US, anytime I get to put on pink, white and blue, anytime I can signify my nation — it means a lot to me.”
Reed mentioned he felt Bradley would make the appropriate choice. It doesn’t matter what occurs, Reed made it clear the Ryder Cup will likely be an enormous a part of his legacy.
“If you’re on the excursions, everybody has that on their schedule. You’re all the time attempting to make the group. And it’s the one even that — no less than up to now — you don’t receives a commission for it. You’re going on the market and representing your nation and going to play as a result of need to win so badly to your nation and one thing greater than you,” he mentioned. “I feel it’s an enormous a part of your legacy. … I feel that’s part of my legacy as ‘Captain America.’”
Earlier than becoming a member of FOX Sports activities as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years masking the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Comply with him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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