Midway through last year’s final round at LIV Golf Jeddah, Patrick Reed hit a rough patch. A stretch of three consecutive bogeys sent him spiralling down the leaderboard. He responded with three birdies in his next four holes, but the damage had been done.

The cost? An $8 million bonus.

Reed entered that week at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in third place in the season-long Individual Champion race. His 4 Aces captain, Dustin Johnson, had already wrapped up the title, but Reed, with 76 points, was just three points behind Stinger’s Branden Grace, who was playing despite suffering a rib injury the previous week in Bangkok.

Grace would ultimately finish outside the top 24 for points in Jeddah, providing a huge opportunity for Reed and the other chasers to move into a bonus-paying top-three position.

Had Reed parred just one of those three bogey holes in the final round, he would have finished the tournament at eight-under and a three-way tie for 10th with Abraham Ancer and Anirban Lahiri on the tournament leaderboard. Also, because Reed would’ve shot the better final-round score, he’d have claimed the tiebreakers against those two players for the 10th place points finish, worth 10 points. That would have given Reed 86 points in the final standings and the $8 million bonus for second place.

Instead, Reed finished at seven-under and in a seven-way tie for 12th. Reed lost the tiebreaker to five of those players, thus settling for 17th place, worth three points. That gave Reed a total of 79 points, matching Grace’s total.

Since the tiebreakers for season-long points are based on best tournament results, Reed lost the tiebreaker to Grace, who had won the second tournament of the year in Portland while Reed’s best finish was a second place in Bangkok. Thus, Grace earned the second-place bonus money.

Still, that left Reed in third place, which paid a $4 million bonus. But wait …

Peter Uihlein birdied his last hole in Jeddah, the par-5 18th, to force a playoff against his then-teammate Brooks Koepka, the Smash captain. It took three playoff holes, but Koepka finally won. Had Uihlein won, he would’ve finished second in the season-long race. Instead, his runner-up finish to Koepka was worth 30 points, which gave him 79 points.

Same as Grace. Same as Reed.

Grace, thanks to that Portland win, still claimed the second-place bonus. Third place was now down to Uihlein and Reed — and the tiebreaker went to Uihlein, who had two runner-up finishes on the 2022 season (one in Chicago to go with the one in Jeddah) to Reed’s one.

Thus, Uihlein claimed the third-place bonus money, leaving Reed as the odd man out.

No wonder it’s not a memory he likes revisiting.

“I definitely try not to think about last year, that’s for sure,” Reed said.

He now has a chance to make amends.

Reed returns to LIV Golf Jeddah next week ranked fourth in the season-long points standings. He has 121 points, which leaves him 25 points behind third-place Bryson DeChambeau, who has won two of the last three LIV Golf events. Three-time winner Talor Gooch is in second at 162 points while two-time 2023 winner Cameron Smith tops the standings with 170 points.

Reed is mathematically eliminated from finishing either first or second, but he does have a shot at the third-place bonus money should either one of these permutations take place:

Reed wins Jeddah and DeChambeau finishes no better than sixth

Reed finishes second in Jeddah, and neither Johnson, Grace nor Koepka win while DeChambeau finishes no better than 15th

Unlike last year, Reed has no need to protect his spot this time. As he unfortunately knows, fourth place does not earn bonus money, so Reed should have the green light whenever he feels like it. Play aggressive — but still play smart.

“Really for me, good golf takes care of everything,” Reed said. “I think that’s the biggest thing kind of going in is taking it day-by-day.”

Since joining LIV Golf in the second tournament of the inaugural season, Reed has consistently put himself in a position to win. Of his 18 regular-season starts, he’s finished on the podium four times, and he has four other top-10 finishes. Among his last five starts is a fifth place in Andalucía, a second in London (one stroke behind winner Smith) and a fourth in Bedminster.

Just as important, he’s been a key cog for the 4 Aces, last year’s Team Champions who’ll enter Jeddah in position to claim the top seed going into Miami for the second straight year. The 4 Aces have seven wins and finished on the podium a league-leading 12 teams since Reed was added to the team.

The Aces’ success has been rewarding, but Reed wouldn’t mind enjoying the spoils of his individual play. Returning to Jeddah next week may bring back old wounds, but it also provides an opportunity for positive memories. He’s due for a win — and Royal Greens may owe him one.

Main image. LIV Golf