For once, a rules situation involving Patrick Reed went incredibly smoothly. And it almost certainly won’t be something we’ll be re-litigating two years from now, or pouring 180 hours of research into.
Thankfully, this particular situation was as straightforward as they come, with Reed hitting his tee shot at Port Royal’s par-5 17th into a penalty area right of both the fairway bunkers and the cart path:
Reed then proceeded to take his legal drop within two club lengths of where the ball crossed the red line, and he technically could have gotten relief from there if he wanted since his feet were on the cart path as he took his stance. But Reed played the shot from there anyway, likely because it was a good lie—which he got from being able to place the ball, according to Golf Channel commentators, since his drop twice rolled out of the two club-length drop area. Well, it must have been a really good lie because his next shot, his third, went in the damn hole for eagle:
Entering this week, Reed had not looked like himself during the fall swing, with a missed cut at the Shriners and a 68th-place finish in a 77-man field at the CJ Cup. But he came out strong on Thursday at the Bermuda Championship, as magical shots like the eagle above and this chip-in birdie below showed:
Following the hole-out eagle, Reed wound up bogeying the 18th, but still finished with a solid three-under 68 that has him in a tie for 10th. He’s just three back of co-leaders Brandon Hagy and Chad Ramey.