2018 Masters Tournament Recap
By: Charles Burney, Jr.
In the first major tournament of the 2018 PGA Tour season, the Augusta National Golf Club was able to award the traditional green jacket to a golfer for his first time.
Patrick Nathaniel Reed, a 27-year old golfer who graduated from Augusta State University and won a NCAA individual national championship, is the 2018 Masters Tournament champion.
This is Reed’s first major professional golf tournament championship of his playing career. Reed is a source of controversy due to alleged unsportsmanlike conduct while attending the University of Georgia. There is disagreement over the details, but Reed left UGA before graduating.
Reed finished the Masters with 273 total strokes on 72 holes attempted on a 288-stroke par course, just three more strokes than the Masters Tournament all-time record for the lowest aggregate score of 270 from both 4-time champion Tiger Woods and 2016 champion (and 2018 3rd place finisher) Jordan Spieth.
Reed won $1.98 million out of the $11 million purse.
There were many storylines heading into one of, if not the, biggest sporting events in April, especially for its fourth and final round. Reed was also close to becoming the first golfer to attempt less than 70 strokes in each round of the tournament.
He finished with 69, 66, 67 and 71 strokes respectively. Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland was also looking to have a championship from each of the four major tournaments of professional golf involving the PGA European Tour. This is called a “career Grand Slam.”
McIlroy was in 2nd place at the end of Round 3 with 11 strokes under the par amount, and he was even leading the tournament after the 8th hole of the third round, scoring an eagle after scoring a birdie in three of the previous four holes. Even with no bogeys in the rounds, McIlroy fell behind Reed with a three-stroke deficit and never regained the lead, finishing in a tie for 5th place.
This tournament almost had a massive comeback victory, to add onto all the craze. Jordan Spieth attempted nine more strokes total than Reed after the first three rounds. A golfer in this position beginning Round 4 has never won the Master championship. He scored eight birdies (and very close to an eagle on the 13th hole) before the 18th and final hole, where he hit a tree on his 3rd stroke at par-4 hole and had to settle for a par score.
