The name Patrick Reed hasn’t been spoken much by golf cognoscenti in 2024. The former Masters champion had an up-and-down year on the LIV Golf circuit, ranking 20th in the individual points standings with three top-10 finishes, his best effort a T-3 in the Houston stop not far from his home in The Woodlands, Texas. He made the cut in the two majors he competed in—T-12 at the Masters, T-53 at the PGA—and posted a T-10 at Spanish Open among four DP World Tour starts he made this fall.

To say then that Reed’s accomplishment on Saturday during the third round of the Asian Tour’s Link Hong Kong Open was his biggest golf feat of the year might not be that far off base. After birdieing his first five holes, and six out of seven to start the round, Reed kept the momentum going, posting an 11-under 59 with five birdies on his last six holes to take the lead at Hong Kong Golf Club.

“Yeah, you know, it was kind of one those days,” said Reed, who sits at 18-under total for the tournament, three strokes ahead of India’s Rashid Khan and Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong. “I got up, I felt a little tight but felt ready to go and got out here and had probably one of the worst warm-ups ever. I looked at my caddie, and he goes, ‘hey, a warm-up is a warm-up, let’s go out and just play golf.’ He goes, some of your best rounds have come from a poor warm-up.”

This was just the second time that there had been a 59 recorded on the Asian Tour, but it won’t go down as an official score, according to the tour, because preferred lies were in place. Coincidentally, Reed was paired with John Caitlin when the American shot the first 59 on the Asian Tour in March at the International Series event in Macau.

Reed has never won on the Asian Tour since playing in his first event there four years ago. The 34-year-old’s last professional win came at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open, which was his ninth PGA Tour title before he jumped to LIV. Reed currently sits 164th in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Main Image: LIV Golf