‘I was battling for my life:’ Patrick Reed details fight with pneumonia after playing first round in nearly a month at Tour Championship

ATLANTA – Patrick Reed said he had to fight for his life the first two days he was in the hospital battling bilateral pneumonia.

Reed was admitted to a Houston-area hospital August 19 with breathing problems after he said he felt like he was hit by a brick, going from feeling OK to “literally feeling like I couldn’t breathe and was almost drowning in air. It hit me so fast and it was so brutal.”

Reed said doctors told him he wasn’t in a good spot the first two days.

“They were sitting there telling me that to make sure you text your family quite a bit, talk to your family, because you just don’t know. I mean, this is not good. I was battling for my life,” Reed said Thursday after the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, home to the FedEx Cup Playoffs finale.

“With how the hospitals are these days because of COVID and everything that’s going on, it doesn’t matter what’s going on. They won’t allow people in there, so it’s only you in there. So I’m sitting there and those first two days the only thing that was going through my mind is, I’m not going to be able to tell my kids goodbye. I’m not going to be able to tell them I love them. I’m not going to be able to tell my wife that I love her and give her a hug.

“It definitely puts you in a dark space.”

Reed, 31, emerged from the dark and won his battle with pneumonia and was discharged August 23. Reed, who said he received the COVID vaccine about a month ago, tested negative for COVID before being discharged. He continues to do breathing exercises to help clear out his lungs.

“I had bilateral pneumonia in both lungs, and that’s what they were treating me in the hospital,” Reed said. “And it was scary because it was in my lower lobes, which is where a lot of deaths and people pass away from.”

Reed continued his recovery at his home and hit golf balls for the first time this past Monday. Doctors were monitoring him during his six-hour range session and gave him a “cautious light to go and play.” Reed and his caddie and coach took a van service from Houston to Atlanta for the Tour Championship because doctors would not OK Reed to fly, saying the cabin pressure would be too much for his lungs. The trip lasted about 15 hours. Doctors have since given him the OK to fly home to Houston at the end of the tournament.

“The way everyone on my team kind of makes it sound is once this week’s over, I’m full go to be able to do exactly what I want,” Reed said.

The nine-time PGA Tour winner played nine holes on Wednesday at East Lake, the first holes of golf he’s played in more than three weeks. During Thursday’s first round, 25 days after playing the final round of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Reed was rusty and shot 2-over-par 72 and is nearly 15 shots out of the lead in the season’s final event.

“My energy was OK,” Reed said. “My speed is not there yet, obviously. Where I really notice it is kind of on iron shots and on setting up and having to hit an exact number, it just seemed to be a hair off. But the good thing is my short game didn’t leave me. My short game was pretty good today.”

Was it ever. Reed may have shot 80 if not for his short-game wizardry, as he hit just five of 18 greens in regulation but got up-and-down eight times for par and once for birdie.

“I feel optimistic, obviously with the way I finished, getting through 18 and not feeling like my health is hindering me,” Reed said. “I think that was the biggest thing today is being first time playing 18 holes, how am I going to feel, how are my lungs going to feel? I know there’s going to be some ups and downs on the golf course because I haven’t played in a while, but I feel my lungs and my health hung in there today.

“I’m just getting stronger every day. I look forward to tomorrow going out and hopefully continuing to hit fairways. And I hit 10 fairways today and if I continue doing that and playing from the short grass out here, we’re going to start dialing in the irons and keep the short game sharp and make some putts.”

Before contracting pneumonia, Reed had played a hectic schedule that included seven tournaments in eight weeks. He made four trips overseas – to England for the British Open and then back to the States, then to Tokyo for the Summer Games and then back to the states. He flew roughly 25,000 miles.

Now he hopes to play another event in two weeks – the Ryder Cup. Reed was considered to be on U.S. captain Steve Stricker’s short list for a captain’s pick before he contracted pneumonia. Stricker makes his six discretionary selections Sept. 8. The Ryder Cup is Sept. 24-26 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

Reed met up with Stricker, who was at East Lake on Wednesday.

“He came out to me when I was on 9 and I hit a hybrid into 9 to 8 feet, and I made the putt for him,” said Reed, who has played in three editions of the Ryder Cup.

“The biggest thing in talking with Stricks is just making sure I’m healthy and I think the biggest thing for me this week is just to see kind of where I’m at,” Reed said. “And I know by Ryder Cup my game’s going to be where it needs to be, as long as I feel like my health is where it needs to be and as long as I feel like I can sustain through rounds of golf.

“But the great thing is I felt like I can play now, I feel like I can do what I’m supposed to do. I feel now it’s just getting some reps in and just get the energy level and strength back.”