Patrick Reed made hard work of his victory at LIV Golf Dallas on Sunday, having boasted a five-shot lead at one stage during the final round at Maridoe.
It was Patrick Reed who got across the line at LIV Golf Dallas, with the 34-year-old needing a playoff to beat Louis Oosthuizen, Paul Casey and Jinichiro Kozuma. The quartet had finished the tournament on six under par.
It had appeared that Reed had one hand on the trophy from the early stages of the final round. He made a birdie on the first hole, and went on to find himself five shots clear of the chasing pack.
Ultimately, he signed for a round of 75 and there were definitely times when it appeared that Reed was going to struggle to make a playoff.
Patrick Reed admits not liking one statistic following his win at LIV Golf Dallas
But perhaps there is a very good reason that Reed found getting across the line so challenging.
Reed had previously made 40 starts on LIV Golf without winning. It also turned out to be the first time that he has won in his home state of Texas. And when asked about that, he admitted that the wait had gone on way too long.
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“I don’t like hearing those numbers, that it took me 41 times just to win out here. It took too long I felt like, but to check two things off and only win for the first time on LIV and also doing it in my home state means a lot,” he said.
“It’s just been I felt like a long time coming to win out here. I felt like the game has been solid. Even like today, you always deal with adversity throughout every tournament you play. It’s just how you’re going to respond and handle it. Luckily I was able to kind of right the ship today and get in a playoff and make that putt at the end.”
The best players on LIV Golf right now without a victory after Patrick Reed’s win
Reed has now moved up to fourth in the season standings on LIV. However, he has some way to go to catch the top three of Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and current leader Joaquín Niemann.
Interestingly, there are a handful of players in the top 10 who are yet to win an individual title on LIV.
Sebastián Muñoz is in sixth after three impressive finishes in four at the start of the year, while Lucas Herbert is just behind him. And David Puig is ninth in the standings currently.
Meanwhile, a certain Phil Mickelson is also awaiting his first victory on LIV Golf. Mickelson has had a very decent year and had chances to get across the line.
The problem is that for all of LIV’s flaws, it is incredibly difficult to actually win given the amount of quality at the top of the leaderboard each week.