Sometimes slicing a tee shot isn’t a death sentence for the hole.
Patrick Reed’s drive on Port Royal’s par-5 17th went “fore right” and landed in the penalty area, so the 31-year-old Texan took a drop and with 210 yards to the flagstick. Knowing Bermuda’s wind may stop him short of a few yards he decided to use a little more club than usual from that far out and it was a perfect choice as he holed out for eagle.
“Well, the biggest thing is I put it really in the best position,” Reed said. “I was sitting there with 3-iron or driver considering and my coach and I were thinking, well, if I tee it down, driver, hit a little cut. If it went off the right, it was holding pretty straight. Overcut it in the hazard, took a drop and we had 210 flag, 204 cover on the line and I was thinking with how much wind was blowing, hit 7-iron. And [Kessler Karain, Reed’s caddie] was like, no, downwind, how hard it’s been blowing, the ball hasn’t really been traveling, into the wind’s getting killed. He said, I like the [6-iron], it’s a perfect six. So I went with a six and I flushed it and it went in.”
Full-field scores from the Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Although the wind has wreaked havoc during the Bermuda Championship’s first round, Reed feels the conditions bring a fun challenge to the event.
“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s one of those golf courses that if they didn’t have wind around here, you’d go out and you’d destroy. So I almost feel like they need the wind here to be kind of a defense mechanism for the golf course, for the tournament.”
Reed’s eagle was sandwiched between two bogeys and the 2018 Masters winner finished his round three shots off the lead.
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