Patrick Reed embraces Masters challenge after LIV exit | D'Angelo

• Patrick Reed shot a 3-under 69 in the first round of the 2026 Masters.
• Reed recently announced his departure from LIV Golf to rejoin the PGA Tour, seeking more consistent top-level competition.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Patrick Reed is ready for the challenge. And it has nothing to do with returning to the PGA Tour after deciding he was done taking Saudi money.

Reed, who announced 10 weeks ago he was leaving LIV Golf, has had as much success at Augusta National as anybody since he wore the Green Jacket after the 2018 Masters, with four top 10s and a 12th-place finish.

Which is why his 3-under 69 in the first round of the 2026 Masters should not be a surprise, even with the conditions making this course more treacherous.

But that was the first round. What Reed, and his peers, are expecting is more demanding and eventually grueling conditions as the dry weather settles in and the heat and wind picks up.

"With what the weather looks like, it's going to be hot, really hot, sunny, they could make this place really, really hard if they wanted to," Reed said.

"I wouldn't be surprised. We have the best players in the world here. Why not? Challenge us and make it difficult, because it's one of these golf courses if you hit quality golf shots, you're going to get rewarded for it."

Patrick Reed left LIV Golf to play with the best on PGA Tour

Reed's decision to rejoin the Tour that offers "the deepest fields from top to bottom," and play with "the best players in the world," seems to have freed him from the stigma of those who have left the Tour to join LIV.

All he did from the time he was thinking about leaving was win two DP World tournaments and finish runner-up in a third, which went to a playoff. And that essentially assures his path back to the PGA Tour for 2027.

"I've always known," Reed said when asked if he came to realize the PGA Tour offered more competition than LIV after he left the Tour. "It's one of those that from top to bottom that's the place that I feel like is best for us to go and compete against the top guys year in and year out, week in and week out."

The light bulb went on fully at his first DP World Tour event of the year in Dubai. When he arrived on the range, it was full. Then players slowly start "disappearing" for their tee time. When you get to the tee box, the adrenaline kicks in.

A feeling you cannot get on the LIV tour with its shotgun starts.

"All those rushes and those scenarios, kind of going back into playing golf that way, where you're going out there and you're having the battles between not just yourself, but the other guys on the leaderboard," he said.

"For me, I wanted that back, I wanted that adrenaline back, and those feelings."

Reed decided that was the perfect time. He had an offer from LIV but it was not signed.

Winning Masters in 2018 showed Reed how to play Augusta National

Reed's experience in 2018, when he held off a charging Rickie Fowler to win by one shot at 15-under, is what has allowed him to put together a game plan every year since in which he is confident and comfortable.

Reed believes the way to attack Augusta National is not to be cautious. "Let it go and play golf," he says. Which helped him get off to a sizzing start in the first round, and also accounted for one of two bogies.

Reed had two eagles in his first eight holes, making a 27-foot putt from off the green on No. 2 and rolling in a 56-footer on No. 8.

"To be able to make those two eagles and get those roars going, especially early on, was really nice," he said.

But No. 15 was a "head scratcher" for Reed.

In the fairway 262 yards from the pin, he flushed a 7-wood. The ball landed past the pin and skidded off the fairway, into water, which is a good distance behind the green. It traveled 305 yards.

"I didn't see that going that far, but if I have a 7-wood or closer into that green, especially to that pin, I'm going to go for it every day," he said. "I knew if it went over the green, we would be fine. Didn't really think I was going to go 30 yards over the green."

To illustrate just how firm these greens are, even for the first round, Reed said he broke a tee attempting to fix a ball mark.

"It definitely has the teeth in it to make it really, really tough," he said. "I mean, the greens are already getting firm, crusty, and bouncy."

But how tough could it get?

Shane Lowry believes "this could be the toughest Masters we've playing in a while." Tommy Fleetwood said "they're having absolutely perfect conditions to make it as firm and fast as they want."

But that is playing into Patrick Reed's hands.

"In '18, I just decided to go at it completely differently and do all my work, prep, and then come in and just play golf," he said. "Take on every shot and try to win every battle that you go out and hit. If you win more battles than lose, you have a good opportunity at the end.

"So because of that mindset and because it worked first time doing it, that's kind of the mindset I do when I come out here."

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].