Patrick Reed stepped out of scoring at the U.S. Open after Thursday’s afternoon first round, uninterested in talking about his third career double-eagle.
The reason was that he had triple-bogeyed the 18th hole and fallen from the bottom of the leaderboard at even-par to 3-over-par.
“There are 71 other holes we have to play,” Reed said. “One hole doesn't mean jack, to be honest with you.”
Reed recalled almost matter-of-factly that I hit a 3-wood from 287, and it went in.
While suffering through issues with his driver, it was the club that worked on Thursday.
Instead, the hybrid and 3-wood were the trouble clubs, and except for the double-eagle with the 3-wood, Reed struggled off the tee.
“You use something less than a driver to put the ball in play and in position, and every time I tried to do that, I decided to mess that up,” Reed said. “I need to clean up that, and obviously, I put myself in a bad spot there on 18. I tried to do the smart play and couldn't even get it out of there.”
Reed didn’t see the ball go in on the par-five 4th hole; it just happened to be a perfect spot, a perfect club, and aimed at a tower in the distance.
“You're trying to hit at the tower,” Reed said. “For it to go in obviously is a bonus, but really, I just have to clean up the other mistakes.”
Reed’s finishing with a triple made the discussion difficult initially, but as he walked through the round, he opened up about the other double eagles.
Of the three, Reed’s first double eagle came as a kid, and his second and best came at the Porsche Open on the DP World Tour.
“Kess (caddie) called me off a 4-iron on the last hole and decided to hit a cut 5-wood, and right into the hole,” Reed said, recalling the shot.
The first came from the right side of the fairway, and because of some overhanging trees, Reed decided to hit driver off the deck.
“The group in front of me was on the green, and this thing rolls up, and they turn around and look at me, and then they all start jumping because they watched the ball roll right past them and disappear,” Reed said. “I'd love to see it go in. It's always fun watching the ball disappear. But hey, as long as it disappears, that's all that matters. I don't care if you see it or not. As long as it goes in the hole, that's all I really care about.”
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!