SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Patrick Reed was on the range at the Scottish Open, surrounded by PGA Tour players at a tournament co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour. The last time that happened was more than four years ago, and it's soon to change.
“I can't wait,” Reed said.
Two weeks after Brooks Koepka became the first player from LIV Golf to be welcomed back by the PGA Tour, Reed was in his hotel room at the Dubai Desert Classic on the European tour contemplating
his four-shot lead and how the final day would play out.
LIV Golf had a shotgun start, meaning all 54 players were warming up at the same time before each went off to their assigned hole to begin the round.
“Being the last guy out, having the range full and then it slowly empties, walking to the tee with the lead ... having that feeling again, those emotions, the adrenaline, I felt like I wanted to get back to that,” Reed said. “That Saturday night was huge for me.”
And when he finished it off with a four-shot victory the next day, Reed firmly decided not to renew his contract with LIV Golf and start the long road back to the PGA Tour.
He lost in a playoff the next week in Bahrain. The week LIV Golf began its fifth season, Reed was winning again in the Qatar Masters. That put him atop the Race to Dubai on the European tour, and he's still leading the season race over Rory McIlroy.
The leading 10 players from the European tour not already exempt earn PGA Tour cards for 2027, and Reed is virtually a lock. He already has started the countdown, knowing when his one-year ban from playing LIV Golf will end — the week of the Tour Championship in late August.
He also would be eligible to be a pick for the Presidents Cup team — he last played for a U.S. team, his favorite events, in Australia in 2019 during darker times. Royal Melbourne was a week after Reed was penalized for improving his lie in the sand, and Aussies heckled him endlessly. His caddie was suspended for the final match after shoving a spectator who had been cursing Reed.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also was at the Scottish Open. Reed said he never saw him and doubts he would be a serious candidate for the Presidents Cup team in Chicago in September unless he were to win the British Open this week.
“It's not really on my mind,” Reed said. “My biggest thing right now is continuing to play solid golf and let things take care of themselves. I know it would be hard to make that team since I haven't played anything in the United States. But hey, try to get yourself in the discussion.”
He is not in that big of a hurry.
Reed won the Masters in 2018 and received honorary life membership on the European tour, a courtesy once offered major champions. Reed took it seriously, playing seven regular European tour events in 2019 and he has kept a presence since then.
After deciding to leave LIV — and still banned by the PGA Tour — it became his best option. Now he has a chance to join Collin Morikawa as the only Americans to win the Race to Dubai.
Reed officially won't get a PGA Tour card until the European tour season ends Nov. 15. He would be eligible for sponsor exemptions in the fall, but Reed has a job to finish.
The first PGA Tour event where he can earn an exemption is Sept. 17-20 at a new event in Asheville, North Carolina. Reed will be in England that week for the European tour's flagship event at Wentworth. The French Open, Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, all of them are opportunities to win the Race to Dubai — and deny McIlroy a record-tying eighth title.
A case can be made for Reed being the most global player in golf.
McIlroy has been brilliant in taking his Masters green jacket around the world to the Indian Open and Australian Open. He has sparked a renewed interest in national opens. But his appearances come with a hefty appearance fee said to be in the neighborhood of $2 million. It's been that way for top players dating to the era of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, accounting for inflation.
Reed said he occasionally gets appearance money but often plays “because I just want to play.”
He shot 59 in the Hong Kong Open when he won at the end of 2024 on the Asian Tour. He has two European tour titles this year, along with two World Golf Championships titles, the Masters for his lone major and six victories in regular PGA Tour events, the last won at Torrey Pines the year before he defected to LIV, where he won once.
He doesn't plan to stop his global travels. He wants to keep supporting the European tour. But there is a part of him that looks forward to coming home.
“Last year playing 32 events, 23 were overseas,” he said. “I always saw myself wanting to start and finish my career on the PGA Tour.”
In some ways, it will be like starting over. He played the third round of the Scottish Open with Kevin Roy, a 36-year-old whose rookie season was the year Reed left for LIV Golf.
“Nice guy, and he's waxing me right now,” Reed said during a fog delay. “That's why I'm excited, to see guys I'm used to playing with but seeing the new guys playing. It's crazy. The game keeps getting deeper and the fields are stronger. It's going to be awesome to see.”
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On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
