The Jordan Spieth vs. Patrick Reed Match Should Be Glorious

Today’s match play duel between 2-0 Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed has all the trappings of a classic match play war. They’ve partnered up several times at the Ryder Cup and President’s Cup with excellent results. Of all the matches in Austin, this one stands supreme with two young guns providing what fans love the most–pre-match smack talk (okay at least Reed throwing down the gauntlet.

Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier outlines the give and take between one of America’s best dynamic duos.

“We’re going to try to one-up each other, because we’re going against each other,” Reed said for today’s biggest match play pairing. “It should be a nice day.”

“He knows if I get angry, that brings the best golf in me, but I have enough tricks that I can do to myself to make myself angry,” Reed said. “My caddie knows how to kind of push my buttons, he’ll be able to do that.”

“In alternate shot, if we don’t win a hole, I want it to be his fault and he wants it to be my fault. So it’s just — we’ve almost played every single match we’ve been involved in together against each other. We just happen to be wearing the same colors for a lot of those matches.”

When asked to identify Spieth’s greatest match-play strength, Reed was quick to throw a jab. “I don’t know, my back still hurts from the last Ryder Cup,” he said.

In contrast, Spieth ended his press conference with a compliment to his opponent.”I’ve been very nice to him this week. He’s a phenomenal putter. He really is, especially in this format where he putts aggressively. And he walks into every putt really looking like it’s going in.”

Even Rory McIlroy said,“I have a lot of interest in that,” he said, drawing laughs. “What time are they playing?” 

“Hopefully I get done early, I can watch it.”

Finally, as they dragged him off stage, he was asked what outcome he hoped for. Without missing a beat, he said, “Penalty drops everywhere.”

I’ll give the slightest edge to Reed. But it’s essentially a pick-em prop. Quit tip: Reed has been behind on 6 holes in two rounds; Jordan zero.

Winner-take-all moves to the weekend. Tee time: 1:32 CDT.