As a means of deflecting talk that they were making a jump from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf for financial reasons, numerous players insisted a reduced workload was the reason they chose the upstart league backed by Saudi financing.
But with a slip in his Official World Golf Ranking as well as an open window in his schedule, Patrick Reed has been announced as a participant in the upcoming Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, one of the more lucrative events on the DP World Tour.
Reed was ranked No. 25 on Jan. 2, then dipped to No. 38 when he announced he was leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf on June 11. With no chance to accumulate OWGR points on the LIV circuit, Reed has dropped to No. 50, a position he has maintained for three straight weeks.
With his inclusion in the Dunhill — a pro-am event played on three courses in Scotland: St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns — Reed will have played in five consecutive weeks.
Reed’s September has included:
• LIV Boston (T-31)
• BMW PGA Championship (T-5)
• LIV Chicago (T-12)
• This week’s Cazoo Open de France
• Next week’s Dunhill
When the 2018 Masters champion and nine-time winner joined LIV Golf, however, he insisted he was sick of the constant grind of the PGA Tour.
“It wears on you as an athlete, wears on you as a person, as a father, and this is for me, I feel like this is the best decision ever,” Reed said at the time. “Now I can compete at the highest level, but also prepare and get ready for every single event and be able to be home, and even though I’ll be grinding at home getting ready, I’ll be able to spend time with the kids.”
In the calendar year 2021, Reed played 22 PGA Tour events, including the Olympics. So far in 2022, he played in 16 PGA Tour events, four LIV events, and now two DP World Tour events. With three LIV events left on the schedule and next week’s Dunhill on his docket, Reed will have played 26 events this calendar year, barring injury.
With Reed’s addition, the Dunhill field will have 17 LIV Golf players as well as PGA Tour stars Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Billy Horschel and Shane Lowry.
As for his round Thursday at the French Open, Reed shot 73 and was eight shots behind early clubhouse leader Paul Barjon.
Reed was displeased with the organizers of the event, who he thinks have snubbed him because of his LIV Golf ties. Reed was not invited to play in the pro-am before the tournament and believes he was left off the marquee pairings due to the LIV connection.
“It’s a slap in the face not to invite me to the press conference, or not to have me play the pro-am and all those things,” Reed said to Journal Du Golf.
“At the end of the day, it’s just my golf that I have control over. I’m here to support the tour, France and all the people who are here. But I don’t see why we can’t move from the LIV to the European Tour (DP World Tour) like we usually move from the PGA Tour to the European Tour.”
