AUGUSTA, Ga.—Patrick Reed says his putter has been “on vacation.” Golf fans who primarily watch major championships and the PGA Tour might have the impression that Reed has been lounging on a beach somewhere, too.
But Reed’s putter might be coming home, and it helped him move up the leaderboard at the Masters on Saturday. The 2018 Masters champion shot a 3-under 69 to at least give himself an outside chance of chasing down Rory McIlroy over the last 18 holes.
Reed closed with three birdies over his final six holes. Ludvig Aberg also made a late move, with three straight birdies from Nos. 14-16 in his round of 69. Both were at 6-under 210, six shots behind McIlroy.
Justin Rose went the opposite direction, shooting 75 to fall seven shots back.
They were part of a chasing pack that needs everything to go right at Augusta National on Sunday for a chance at the green jacket. Reed closed with a 68 in 2023 to tie for fourth, his last top-10 finish in a major. He knows that won’t be good enough this time.
“You just never know. But you’d have to expect to go out and play the best round you’ve got,” Reed said. “I’m thinking for me to be able to win this golf tournament, I’ve got to shoot my lowest round I’ve ever shot on Sunday out here.”
Despite having left the PGA Tour for Saudi-funded LIV Golf, Reed has maintained his usual busy schedule, playing individual events on the European and Asian tours. That hasn’t stopped him from falling outside the top 100 in the world ranking, but the 34-year-old Reed said his ball-striking may be better than ever.
At his peak, though — and certainly when he won the Masters — Reed was one of the best putters in golf. But he said after his frustrating opening-round 71 that the flatstick has been on holiday.
“It needs to come back. Today it seemed to be kind of — it’s here in Georgia,” Reed said. “It might be in the ZIP code.”
Reed has more to play for than a second green jacket. A high finish could help him get into the rest of the year’s majors, starting with the PGA Championship next month, but Reed said he can’t be thinking about that.
“You go out and play solid golf, everything takes care of itself,” he said.
Aberg will have a hard time improving upon his finish last year, when only a sublime performance by Scottie Scheffler prevented the Swede from winning in his Masters debut. He closed with a 69 to finish alone in second.
“I think I teed off in the second or third to last group last year, and it was really cool to feel all the buzz and feel all the excitement and nerves and still able to go out and shoot a good score,” Aberg said. “So hopefully we can do that (Sunday) again and see where it ends up.”
Rose began the day with a one-shot lead, and his fall down the leaderboard continued a dispiriting pattern.
The 44-year-old from England has led or co-led five times after 18 holes and three times at the midway point, but in none of those years did he maintain the lead through 54 holes. He did make a Saturday charge in 2017 to tie the lead, only to lose a playoff to Sergio Garcia.
Rose will need a lot of help to add a second major title to the U.S. Open he won at Merion a dozen years ago.
