Patrick Reed: Feeling loved in Europe and chasing a high finish

New Delhi: Patrick Reed may not win many popularity contests but there's something about him. The 2018 Augusta Masters champion saw that success accompanied by critical reports about strife in his family and his attitude. His PGA Tour exit in 2022 to join the newly launched LIV Golf didn’t endear him to many either.

However, Reed, now 36, is on the road back to the PGA Tour. He didn’t renew his LIV contract after 2025 and has been a big success on the DP World Tour this season.

The Road to Dubai Rankings is a big focus for some top players, as the $4 million DP World India Championship will be followed by two more events before the Tour Championship concludes in Dubai.

Two wins and two second-place finishes have helped top the Race to Dubai Rankings with four events left. Ideally, he would have preferred to avoid the banana peel that the DGC course can prove to be. The American knows he can take nothing for granted.

“First off, I have never come across a golf course like this before. I came here, and looking at the yardage and stuff, was like, man, guys are going to shoot nothing. There is going to be so many birdies. It's really short. It's going to be a bunch of wedges.

“(But) with how narrow the fairways are and how thick the rough is, I mean basically it's reload because it's in the jungle. Because of that, it's a lot of irons off tees or 3-woods. You're having to play back, so the golf course is playing longer than what it says on paper. I mean, I forced myself today to hit two drivers. Everything else was less than driver.”

The competition is fierce in the Race to Dubai because Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra, whose breakthrough DP World Tour win came in the 2025 Hero Indian Open, is No. 2 in the race. Six-time Major champion Rory McIlroy is No. 3, determined to win his eighth rankings title, and fifth in a row.

“For me the biggest thing is to go out there and play each day, focus on each shot, and try to execute the best I can. If I execute them properly 70% of the time, then usually that would equate to having a chance to win on Sundays,” Reed said.