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AUGUSTA, Ga. \u2014 Patrick Reed wants to make one thing clear: <\/p>\n
He\u2019s still rooting for the Aces.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, at the end of the day, I really enjoyed all my time over there at LIV,\u201d Reed said on Monday in a pre-Masters press conference. \u201cIt was a blast. Those guys are fun to be around, fun to play with. Especially there on the 4Aces. I still pull for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reed is an ex-Ace now and an ex-LIV golfer. He\u2019s enjoyed seeing his former team captain Dustin Johnson this week, he said, even as he enters this year\u2019s Masters<\/a> in fascinating inter-tour limbo. He\u2019s still suspended from the PGA Tour until late summer, which means he\u2019s post-LIV and pre-PGA Tour, left with a limited DP World Tour schedule plus the major championships \u2014\u00a0and more time at home than he\u2019s used to.<\/p>\n That part has its perks.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea when the last time was I took three or four weeks off before Augusta. It\u2019s been an unbelievable break,\u201d said Reed, who has two wins and a runner-up finish in six DP World Tour starts this year. \u201cI\u2019ve been out there obviously grinding, working on the game, but having the opportunity to take little man [his son] over to some golf lessons and then go to St. Louis with my daughter for volleyball tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n So what led to his LIV departure? Reed offered some specifics, suggesting that family time was a factor \u2014 \u201cMy daughter is now eleven; my little man\u2019s eight. It seems like time has flown. I definitely want to watch them grow up and be home a little bit more; yet still at the same time to play against the best guys,\u201d he said \u2014\u00a0but that a specific competitive moment served as a catalyst for change.<\/p>\n It came in his second event of the season, the Dubai Desert Classic, when he went into the weekend in contention.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it definitely happened quickly, but it was one of those that, when I was over there in Dubai and playing, I really just kind of was sitting back and realizing that I wanted to get back and not only have an opportunity back on the PGA Tour, but get back to the traditional way of golf and playing,\u201d he said, describing the rhythm of a traditional sequential tee-time tournament rather than LIV\u2019s shotgun start.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I stood there in Dubai, that Saturday the entire range is full, and then guys just start disappearing, and you\u2019re the last man on that tee box. Then you\u2019re walking to the tee, you\u2019re the last name announced, and you\u2019ve lost the lead because someone is five under through 8. All those just rushes and those scenarios, going back into playing golf that way, where you\u2019re going out there and you\u2019re having the battles between not just yourself, but the other guys on the leaderboard. For me, I wanted that back, I wanted that adrenaline back, and those feelings, especially with the way I played those last three weeks. But really there in Dubai.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Reed was still negotiating with LIV at the time, working out terms for the 2026 season. Because he wasn\u2019t under contract, he said, and departure became a plausible option.<\/p>\n A new (and same old) Patrick Reed is back at the Masters<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span> \u201cWe had an offer, but at the end of the day, it was kind of one of those that, when I sat down at the end of the day and talked with my wife and my team, I just felt like the best decision for us was to come back and join the PGA Tour so I could be closer to home and with the family,\u201d Reed said. \u201cYeah, there\u2019s nothing that I felt like was going on between LIV and us or anything like that. Like I said, we had a contract, had a deal, but at the end of the day, I felt like the best thing for us was to come to the PGA Tour again.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Michael Bamberger <\/a><\/p>\n
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