Just a few weeks ago, Patrick Reed thought he might earn a captain’s pick onto the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team. But the former U.S. Ryder Cup star was passed up by captain Keegan Bradley.
Now, Reed won’t even watch the Ryder Cup action at Bethpage Black later this month, as he revealed to the Irish newspaper Irish Mail on Sunday this week.
Reed’s resurgent season falls short of Ryder Cup hopes
Though his game has looked off since leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022, Reed had a resurgent year on the course in 2025.
He collected six top-10 finishes at LIV events this year, and, most importantly, he captured his first-career LIV victory at LIV Golf Dallas in late June.
And before that, the 2018 Masters champion put together a stellar performance at Augusta in April, where he finished in solo-third behind winner and European Ryder Cup star Rory McIlroy.
It was McIlroy, of course, who Reed defeated 1 up in an epic back-and-forth Sunday singles match at the 2016 Ryder Cup. Reed’s dramatic win over Rory helped seal the Americans’ 17-11 win at Hazeltine, their first since 2008.
But because Reed plays for LIV Golf, which does not award world ranking points, it was much harder for him to qualify for the U.S. team this year. The major championships were the primary avenue to earn points and to influence captain Bradley’s captain’s pick decision.
Ahead of LIV Dallas in June, Reed admitted the Ryder Cup was on top of his mind. And he revealed one final opportunity to earn his spot on the team: the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
“It’s always on your mind,” Reed said before LIV’s Dallas event. “Anytime I get to represent our country, it means a lot to me. For me personally, I’m always thinking about trying to make every team. Obviously, being a part of LIV where we don’t get points, it’s an uphill battle, but really, for me, it’s focused on playing some great golf and having a chance. It’s really going to come down to the Open Championship, having a chance to win there. You have a really good showing and play well there, then you just never know. It is looking like no matter what, it’s going to rely on a pick unless I go ahead and win the Open. Really, the only way I can focus on the Ryder Cup is that one week, go out and give all I have and have a chance to win.”
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But it wasn’t meant to be. Reed’s opening-round 77 at this year’s Open doomed his hopes for a good finish. A much-improved 70 on Friday still wasn’t good enough to make the cut, and Reed headed back to home to Texas.
The 35-year-old veteran, who won nine times during his PGA Tour career, teed it up in the Amgen Irish Open last week. There he had another disappointing performance, finishing T50 at even par, 17 shots behind McIlroy’s winning total.
“Yeah, I mean, I was hoping. I knew it was going to be an outside shot just because of not being able to get points and things like that, just being on LIV,” Reed said. “But honestly, I felt like the games been really good until this week.”
He then revealed something of a shocker. Though he will be “rooting for the boys” at the Ryder Cup, he won’t watch the action at Bethpage on TV.
“I’ll definitely be rooting for the boys. But it’s one of those things that I don’t watch golf when I’m at home,” Reed said.
Exclusive interview with Patrick Reed in today’s @IrishMailSunday. The US star opens up on Rory McIlroy, the Grand Slam and THAT Ryder Cup showdown, LIV and why the rival tours need a new united path, and why he won’t be watching when Europe and America lock horns at Bethpage. pic.twitter.com/C7QAhGSDzQ
But his rationale is practical, not personal. Reed’s reasons for not watching the Ryder Cup aren’t related to his failed attempt at making the team. Instead, he said he’ll be too busy working on his own game to tune in.
“Because I play so much. Because I’m always out practicing and grinding,” Reed told the Irish Mail on Sunday. “If I start watching golf, I start turning the mindset on to analyze and to do all that.”
The 2025 Ryder Cup gets underway Friday, September 26.
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