Tuesday's notebook: Reed remains a traveling man
Napa, Calif. — The Presidents Cup followed the end of a long season for Patrick Reed, and he still has a long way to go.
Reed took up European Tour membership this year, and even with the Presidents Cup counting toward the minimum 13 events he must play, he is four short. That’s why he is headed back to Asia next week to finish off his schedule.
It starts with the Hong Kong Open. He also will be in Shanghai for two weeks (HSBC Champions, BMW Masters) ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
But then he’s still not done. Reed also said he would play the Hero World Challenge that Tiger Woods hosts in the Bahamas and the Franklin Templeton Shootout that Greg Norman hosts in Florida.
“It’s tough,” Reed said.
“After I play Tiger’s and Shark Shootout, I’ll be at 35 or 37 weeks of the year I’ll be gone. It’s a lot.”
It might have been easier except that Reed chose to withdraw from two European Tour events — the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and the Irish Open — in May when his wife’s cousin died.
Reed is the only American-born player who had his PGA Tour card first and chose to play both tours, and he said he still hasn’t decided whether he would try it next year when the schedule will be even more packed because of the Olympics. But he had no intention of skipping the European Tour events in Asia.
What does he get out of playing both tours?
“Learning how to travel a little bit better, especially with time-zone changes,” Reed said. “In the States, it’s very easy. But when you’re starting to fly to different countries, it becomes tough. Even though we had a direct flight here, a 14-hour flight, flying to Hong Kong is a long flight. Hong Kong to Malaysia is still a five-hour trip. Then Malaysia to China is not bad, but then China to Dubai is a long trip.
“You get in Monday afternoon and it seems like the weeks become a little shorter and you need to learn the golf course a lot quicker.”
Mickelson’s week
Phil Mickelson wasn’t kidding when he said how much he enjoyed the team events.
He sat out Saturday morning and was on the course early despite the threat of rain. Standing on the tee at the par-3 third hole, Lefty made sure every American player who walked by rubbed his belly for good luck.
On the golf course, he turned in an unbeaten record (3-0-1) for the third time in the Presidents Cup.
He also went 4-0-1 at Harding Park in 2009 and 3-0-2 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in 2005.
PGA
Frys.com Open
Site: Napa, Calif.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday
TV: Golf Channel — 5-8 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m. Thursday; 3-6 a.m., 5-8 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m. Friday; 5-7 a.m., 5-8 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m. Saturday; 5-7 a.m., 5-8 p.m., 9 p.m.-midnight Sunday
Defending champion: Bae Sang-Moon
LPGA
Keb Hana Bank Championship
Site: Incheon, South Korea
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday
TV: Golf Channel — 11 p.m.-3 a.m. Wednesday, 11:30 p.m.-3 a.m. Thursday-Saturday
Defending champion: Kyu Jung Baek
Champions
San Antonio Championship
Site: San Antonio.
Schedule: Friday-Sunday
TV: Golf Channel — 2-5 p.m. Friday; 3-5 a.m., 2-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Defending champion: Michael Allen