Patrick Reed: 'I battled for my life and feared I would not be able to say goodbye to my children'
Patrick Reed has revealed “I was battling for my life” when struck down by double pneumonia a fortnight ago and feared “I would not be able to say goodbye to my two children”.
The American, who said he has been vaccinated and has since tested negative for Covid-19, spent “four or five days” in a Houston hospital and was advised by medics to prepare for the worst.
“They were telling me, ‘Make sure you text your family and talk to them, because you just don’t know - this is not good’,” Reed said. “It hit me just like a brick. I went from feeling OK to literally feeling like I couldn't breathe and was almost drowning in air. It was so brutal. It was scary.
“They won't allow people in there, so it's only you. The only thing that was going through my mind is, I'm not going to be able to tell my kids goodbye. I'm not going to be able to tell them I love them. I'm not going to be able to tell my wife that I love her and give her a hug. It put me in a dark space. I was battling for my life.”
Reed is unclear if it was caused by coronavirus.
"They didn’t tell me. I obviously got tested when I was leaving, and I tested negative,” he said. “ But, really, when I went into ER, with the scans and everything they did on my lungs, their main priority was to make sure that we fought this pneumonia in both lungs because of how fatal it can be.”
Reed, 31, was only discharged last week and was not cleared to fly to this week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. So he made the 12-hour drive to Atlanta on Tuesday and played only nine practice holes on Wednesday. In light of this, his opening two-over 72 on Thursday verged on heroic at the FedEx play-off finale.
Reed is guaranteed to pick up at least £280,000 in the 30-man field but he admitted he is only in Georgia to convince US captain Steve Stricker that he will be fit for this month’s Ryder Cup. Stricker names his six wildcards next week.
“Talking with Stricks, the biggest thing is just making sure I'm healthy and this week is just to see kind of where I'm at,” Reed said. “I know that by the Ryder Cup my game's going to be where it needs to be, so long as I feel like my health is where it needs to be and so long as I feel like I can sustain it through rounds of golf.”
In the frankly daft Tour Championship format, Reed, in 30th in the FedEx standings, started 10 behind Cantlay, in first place. Cantlay’s 67 maintained his initial two-shot advantage on 13-under as he kept the near £11 million first prize in focus, although world No 1 Jon Rahm ominously moved into second on 11-under courtesy of a first-round 65.
Then there are three shots further back to Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau after a 66 and 69 respectively. Rory McIlroy is on four-under following a 68.
