Patrick Reed Wins Northern Trust at 40/1 Odds, Tournament Filled With Controversy

Posted on: August 12, 2019, 08:29h. 

Last updated on: August 12, 2019, 12:43h.

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Patrick Reed won the Northern Trust, the first of three FedEx Cup Playoffs events, in what was a controversial week in New Jersey because of slow play frustrations expressed by the game’s best player.

Reed managed to rebound from a shaky first six holes on Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour victory since winning the Masters in April of 2018. His final round of 69 to put him at -16 total was one shot ahead of runner-up Abraham Ancer.

“I have a clear picture on what I’m trying to do, and all of a sudden, I come out and I start hitting the ball where it’s supposed to go,” said Reed, now ranked No. 2 in the FedEx Cup points standings. “I’m starting to think clearly while I’m out there, and the game starts turning around.”

Brooks Koepka remains the No. 1 player in the world and the FedEx Cup points standings leader. He’s at 2/1 to win the Cup and collect the $15 million first-place bonus. Rory McIlroy is next at 6/1, followed by Reed (8/1), Jon Rahm (10/1), and Dustin Johnson.

Tiger Woods, who withdrew after a dismal opening round of 75, citing a “mild oblique strain,” is now a distant 100/1. The playoffs move to Medinah outside Chicago for the BMW Championship this week, and then it’s off to East Lake for the Tour Championship.

Slow Play Talk Escalates

Reed’s dominating performance, shooting rounds of 66-66-67-69, was overshadowed at times because of the slow play of Bryson DeChambeau. After being harshly criticized by fellow players and fans on social media after a video of him taking more than two minutes to hit an eight-foot putt went viral, DeChambeau fired back.

When people start talking to me about slow play and how I’m killing the game, I’m doing this-and-that to the game, that is complete and utter you-know what,” DeChambeau stated. “That’s not fair.”

Koepka had previously named DeChambeau as a slow player. DeChambeau sought out Koepka prior to Sunday’s round for a one-on-one chat.

“It’s not just him,” Koepka explained. “I know he gets singled out, especially when I’m speaking about it. But it’s like I told him, I mentioned his name once and that’s it. There’s so many guys out here where it’s become an issue, and obviously with him being probably the best player that’s relatively slow right now, he’s going to be on TV a lot more, so you’re going to catch a lot more of those type of instances.”

The PGA Tour said in response that it’s considering amending its pace-of-play policy.

Presidents Cup Standings

There’s another race American and non-European international golfers are monitoring as the regular season approaches its conclusion. This week’s BMW Championship is the final event for players trying to finish inside the top eight in their respective team points standings to automatically qualify for their squad.

Team USA automatic qualifiers currently consist of Koepka, Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson, DeChambeau, and Patrick Cantlay. Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, and Rickie Fowler can still jump into the top eight, but Woods is mathematically eliminated.

However, Woods is the team captain, and has four captain’s picks. Team USA hasn’t lost the Presidents Cup since 1998, and will be favored in December at Royal Melbourne in Australia.