Patrick Reed might fulfill his top-5 player declaration at Colonial

It’s been a statement six years in the making. But Patrick Reed is on the precipice of becoming the player he’s claimed to be.

Reed turned in Saturday’s low round at the Charles Schwab Challenge with a bogey-free seven-under 63, a score that vaulted Reed from eight back to T-9 heading into Sunday. That Reed went low is hardly surprising; Reed is ninth on the tour in scoring this season and sixth in the FedEx Cup, and posted a T-15 in his last start at Colonial. The round is noteworthy, however, for its ramifications.

Should he win on Sunday—or finish as high as T-3, depending on how the rest of the field shakes out—Reed will officially become a top five player in the Official World Golf Ranking.

“I knew I had put in the work. I just needed to get something going,” Reed said on Saturday. “Something kind of clicked yesterday in the swing that kind of allowed me to hit it a little closer and make some putts, and I just kind of ran with it today.”

For those that need a rewind, after winning his third PGA Tour event in seven months at the 2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship, a confident Reed—who entered the tournament No. 44 in the world—stated he was one of the best players in the game.

“I’ve worked so hard, I’ve won a lot in my junior career, did great things in (my) amateur career, was 6-0 in match play in NCAAs, won NCAAs two years in a row, got third individually one year, and now I have three wins out here on the PGA Tour,” Reed said at Doral in 2014. “I just don’t see a lot of guys that have done that, besides Tiger Woods, of course, and, you know, the other legends of the game. It’s just one of those things, I believe in myself and–especially with how hard I’ve worked–I’m one of the top five players in the world.”

At the time, it was a belief that was brash at best, and some argued delusional. Yet Reed has won five times since that proclamation, highlighted by grabbing the green jacket in 2018, and came to Colonial ranked a career-best No. 7 in the OWGR. A strong Sunday at the Charles Schwab Challenge will bring Reed’s 2014 words to fruition.

“You would think somebody has got to go low,” Reed said about his Sunday chances. “But I did what I had to do today to give myself a chance to win tomorrow, it's just going to take another low one.”

Reed starts his day three back of leader Xander Schauffele.