Patrick Reed describes scary bout with double pneumonia

Per Bob Harig of ESPN, Reed returned to competitive play Thursday and shot an opening-round 72 at the Tour Championship but mostly discussed his recent ordeal when speaking with reporters. 

"First couple days they were sitting there telling me that make sure you text your family quite a bit, talk to your family, because you just don't know. I mean, this is not good. We're not in a good spot right now," Reed explained.

"With how the hospitals are these days because of COVID-19 and everything that's going on, it doesn't matter what's going on. They won't allow people in there, so it's only you in there. So I'm sitting there and those first two days the only thing that was going through my mind is, I'm not going to be able to tell my kids goodbye. I'm not going to be able to tell them I love them. I'm not going to be able to tell my wife that I love her and give her a hug." 

Reed added he tested negative for COVID-19 before leaving the hospital and that he was admitted Aug. 19. "I mean, just all of a sudden I went from feeling OK to literally feeling like I couldn't breathe and was almost drowning in air and it was, it hit me so fast and it was so brutal," he said. 

It's unclear if Reed is considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19. While fully vaccinated athletes in MLB and the NFL have tested positive for the virus this summer, most, if not all, of them fully recovered without enduring anything close to what Reed encountered during his bout with pneumonia. 

In early August, the PGA said more than 70% of players and more than 90% of caddies were considered fully vaccinated against the coronavirus at that time.