It came down to the slippery two-putt on the 72nd gap, and yet there was no doubt Patrick Reed would get the job done. Reed’s putter never failed him throughout the 7 days, including Sunday, when he carded an one-under 71 to earn the 82nd Masters at 15-under 273, holding off Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth in the process.
It was going to get something special to catch Reed, and that’s what both Fowler plus Spieth provided, Fowler posting the five-under 67 with a birdie in the last and Jordan Spieth almost tying the course record by having an eight-under 64. But it wasn’t sufficient, especially with Reed coming up clutch system down the stretch, having made birdies at the 12th and 14th openings and two key par will save at 17 and 18 in order to win his first major.
“To be able to create that putt I felt like, upon 14, and to make that two-putt on 17, it just type of have me that momentum entering 18, which in the past has provided me so many issues. To be able to need to par the last hole to earn my first major, it definitely experienced right, ” said Reed.
“I knew it had been going to be tough, any time looking to just close off a golf competition is really hard, but to close up your first major and to do it in a place that’s so close to me personally, being it’s where I visited college, I knew that the prospect was going to shrink at some times We knew the lead could develop, it’s just the flows of golfing. You just have to know how to handle it, the only method that I felt like I could get that will done was to make sure the putter was working and it was hard out there. ”
While Reed made plenty of lengthy putts throughout the week, it was 2 two-putts that he missed ultimately gained him the green jacket. On the 17th, Reed’s approach just skipped the front left part of the green, making him an 80-foot putt which he nearly made, hitting the hole plus running out to five feet. Right after saving that for par, Reed found the fairway at eighteen, then hit his second properly above the hole, about twenty five feet away. He barely handled it and it rolled past regarding four feet, but once again, this individual buried the par putt.
“I’m sitting right now there in between two clubs on the metal shot and to hit it exactly where I thought was going to be perfect as well as for it to stay on that shape, I was watching Sergio a year just before having putts from up generally there and just barely tapping them and they are just barely getting down to the pit and you see it carrying some speed, I actually knew there was no way to keep it short. When I hit this, I kind of mis hit this, tried to hit it off the toe as well as for it to go three-and-a-half feet simply by, just happy I’ve actually strike that putt before and understood it was just a left center putt. ”
The particular victory is the sixth of Reed’s career, and the first since the 2016 Barclays, where he also held away from Fowler down the stretch at Bethpage Black.
“It’s almost impossible to put into words. Simply to make the putt on the last watching the ball go in the gap and know that I won our first major, to finally finish the drought of not successful last year, that was one of my large goals coming into this year. To not just contend in majors but also return in that winning circle, to do it within the first major, to kind of complete that drought, it just designed so much to me. ”
For Fowler, it’s one more close call in a major. He’s completed inside the top 10 nine times within major championships, eight of which came in the top 5 and three within the top 2 . He’s getting nearer to a breakthrough.
“There’s been a few majors exactly where obviously I’ve played well enough exactly where that score (14-under) would have organized at another point or if generally there wasn’t another guy, but that may be golf, ” said Fowler. “You have to beat everyone, and it’s already been fun to have the good performances within majors, especially in 2014, we completed top 5 in all four. Maybe it is a year where maybe we obtain all top 5s again, yet it’d be nice to toss one trophy in there as well. inch
Spieth’s circular may be quickly forgotten in the instant aftermath of Reed’s victory, however it was an incredible one. He produced nine birdies and just one bogey, which came at the final opening after his poor tee photo left him in an impossible place to hit the green in rules. His next bid at a 2nd green jacket will have to wait, yet there’s no doubt it’s coming.
Jon Rahm, whom fired a final-round 69, completed in solo fourth at 11-under 277. Cameron Smith, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson tied for fifth at nine-under 279.
