Just two weeks after leaving LIV Golf and declaring his intentions to return to the PGA Tour, Patrick Reed already appears close to locking up his card for the 2027 season.
On Sunday, Reed became the first American to win the DP World Tour’s Qatar Masters. The win, his second on the European circuit in three weeks, vaults Reed to the top of the Race To Dubai rankings. The top 10 players who are not already exempt on the PGA Tour receive cards at the end of the season. Reed won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic two weeks ago and lost in a playoff last week in Bahrain before hoisting the trophy in Qatar.
“This little run I’ve had, two wins and a second, it’s awesome,” Reed said. “We couldn’t ask anything more than what we did. It’s special to come out here, especially to get two wins early on in the season, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”
Two weeks ago, after his win in Dubai, Reed revealed that he was currently not under contract with LIV Golf and was still negotiating his return to the league. Three days later, Reed announced he was leaving LIV and planned to play on the DP World Tour in 2026 while he waited for his PGA Tour suspension, which lasts through the end of August, to end. He planned to use his past champions’ exemption to regain status. But with two wins and a playoff loss in his last three DP World Tour starts, Reed has already just about locked up a PGA Tour card for 2027.
The 2018 Masters champion currently has 2,259.70 points in the Race to Dubai. Last season, Jordan Smith finished 10th with 2,203.32 points. In 2024, Tom McKibbin, who eventually decided to forgo the PGA Tour to join LIV, finished 10th with 1,897.45 points.
Reed entered Sunday in Qatar with the lead, but early bogeys at No. 2 and No. 6 saw him drop from the lead. Reed steadied the ship on the back nine by making birdies at 10, 11 and 14 to eventually beat Callum Scott by two.
“It wasn’t looking very good there on the front nine,” Reed said. “To lose the lead like that and then to be able to kind of flip the switch there on the back nine obviously felt amazing. I just needed a putt to go in. I mean, I had 18 putts on the front nine; yesterday, I had 33 putts, so I felt like I was hitting the ball fine. I felt like right when we made the turn — you know, we were chasing at that point — I just decided to go for it and trust in the putter and trust in the process, and we were able to kind of get it done.
“I feel amazing. This one hasn’t fully sunk in yet, but today, with how stressful the day was, I was very proud because it very easily could have gotten away from me. The golf we’ve played since basically the offseason has been some stellar golf. I feel really confident in my golf game right now, and it’s always awesome to come and play the way we do, especially over here.”
With the win, Reed also moves into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since 2021. He is exempt into the Masters for life, but his position in the OWGR means he should be eligible to play all four major championships this season.
It has taken Patrick Reed all of three tournaments on the DP World Tour to likely secure his full-time PGA Tour card for the 2027 season.
But now sitting atop the Race To Dubai, Reed has his sights on becoming the first American to win the Race To Dubai since Collin Morikawa in 2021.
“It’s always on your radar,” Reed said. “Trust me, you’d rather be in the lead than hunting and chasing. It’s always been a dream of mine to be an American and come out here and win the Race to Dubai. And hey, we’re off to a fast start.”