Reed wants Tiger as Ryder Cup partner: "My wife actually calls him my twin star"
Patrick Reed and his wife Justin at Trump National Doral on Sunday. Picture: Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ie
Super confident Cadillac Championship winner Patrick Reed wants Tiger Woods as his Ryder Cup partner and Gleneagles showdowns with European stars Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter.
The 23-year old made history at the Blue Monster when he snatched Woods' record as the youngest winner of a World Golf Championships title.
But while he also got heavily criticised for declaring in a Saturday TV interview that he's "one of the top five players in the world" the new world No 20 is prepared to back it up if he makes Tom Watson's team for Gleneagles.
Currently fourth in the US standings, Reed said: "I watched the last Ryder Cup at my house, wishing I was playing in it. It would mean so much to me to make that team on my own without having to rely on a pick or anything like that.
"I don't know if I would be really nervous as much as really excited, especially on the first day where it is team and if I hit a bad tee shot, my partner will be able to pick me up.
"I'd love to play alternate shot with Tiger Woods. Why? Best golfer who ever lived. We wear black and red. Ok, red, white and blue. But it would definitely be a red shirt that day.
Patrick Reed with the WGC-Cadillac Championship trophy. Picture: Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ie
"I feel that with the shot-making he has and the shot-making I have and with our short games, that would be a team that would be extremely hard to beat.
"My wife actually calls him my twin star. I am reckless like he is. I like to go for everything. But at the same time, that's how we win events, that's also how we lose events. It's one of those things that we don't play scared. That would be pretty fun."
Reed is a big admirer of McDowell's and wouldn't mind a match with the Portrush man and McIlroy, or even european talisman Poulter.
"Yeah, absolutely. I played with Graeme at Pebble this year and absolutely loved it. My wife said, 'it looked like y'all two were just going at it.' He shot, I think, five under, I shot three under and it seemed like we were both just going at it all day.
"He's a great golfer and I'd love to play him and Rory. That would be fun. Rory and him against myself and Tiger. Or Rory and Ian Poulter, Poulter is a great guy.
"He speaks his mind. He doesn't sugarcoat anything and I respect that of people. I wouldn't expect him to sugarcoat anything.
"He just has the guts to tell everybody how he feels. I feel like I am that way. I won't sugarcoat anything either and I feel like that's also what makes you a great player and a well-respected player."
Reed didn't back down when asked again about his comment on Saturday that he was a Top-fve player.
“I’ve worked so hard, I’ve won a lot in my junior career, did great things in (my) amateur career, was 6-0 in match play in NCAAs, won NCAAs two years in a row, got third individually one year, and now I have three wins out here on the PGA Tour," he said.
Patrick Reed wouldn't mind taking on Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy or Graeme McDowell in the Ryder Cup. Picture: Fran Caffrey www.golffile.ie
“I just don’t see a lot of guys that have done that, besides Tiger Woods, of course, and, you know, the other legends of the game. It’s just one of those things, I believe in myself and — especially with how hard I’ve worked – I’m one of the top five players in the world.
“To come out in a field like this and to hold on wire to wire like that, I feel like I’ve proven myself.”
Off the top of his head, he listed Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, McDowell and Dustin Johnson as the other top five players.
He forgot McIlroy but along with Woods, Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and the Holywood star, he is now part of that select group of players who have won three or more times in the US before turning 24.
Asked if he was the kind of player Watson loves, a confident gunslinger who's not afraid of the pressure, he said: "Oh yeah. At NCAAs I told my coach, I don't care what you do but I am going last.
"I like to have everything on my shoulders. I want to be the one who has the putt to win it. I have always been that way."
