Patrick Reed ready for 'real Carnoustie' when Angus course hosts 2029 Open

It was announced on Monday that Carnoustie will follow St Andrews and Royal Lytham on the list of confirmed venues for the game’s oldest major. It will be the ninth time the event is held there and first since Italian Edoardo Molinari triumphed in 2018.

Reed played Carnoustie fairly recently in the 25th edition of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour and enjoyed being back there. However, he is expecting a totally different test for The Open in 2029.

“It's definitely an Open Championship test for sure,” said the American, speaking in a pre-event DP World Tour Championship press conference at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai on Tuesday. “During the Dunhill, it's a heck of a lot easier than it was for that Open (when he tied for 28th behind Molinari).

“It was so firm. I mean, just trying to wrap your head around hitting certain clubs from certain distances. The fifth hole is the par 4 right before Hogan’s Alley.

“When I got there the week before to play for two days, we went out there and one of the local caddies was ahead of us. He was marking the ball where it would land so he could see where the ball would land and where the ball would finish. It's 304 or something like that to that ditch, and I end up hitting 7-iron to stop short. It rolled 289 yards, and the ball just wouldn't stop.

“I's such a different type of golf, and especially at a place like Carnoustie that not only do you have to be able to control how far the ball is going, but if you get just a little off-line, hitting out of that fescue is impossible.

“It's one of those places that, technical-wise, it's not as difficult. It's more of a mental issue, sitting there looking at numbers, seeing, okay, 130 yards and hitting 7-iron because it's blowing 40 into the wind or it's 250 but it's 7-iron with how firm it is and get comfortable making a normal golf swing.

“I feel like that's always been the hard part about links golf is stepping up there and hitting those weird numbers that you normally just don't see, and trusting that's just a normal golf swing and not trying to guide it.”

Reed, a two-time winner in the Middle East earlier in the year, sits third behind young Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra and record-chasing Rory McIlroy - he is bidding to match Colin Montgomerie’s haul of eight Harry Vardon Trophy triumphs - in the Race to Dubai title race heading into this week’s $10 million season finale.

“The year has been very satisfying,” declared Reed, who played on the DP World Tour a lot before joining LIV Golf and was happy to return to the circuit when he called time on his spell with the breakaway circuit earlier this year.

“To kind of make that step and have the opportunity to finish in the top ten (in the Race to Dubai) to earn my spot on the PGA Tour, and basically come out and believe in myself and put all my eggs in one basket and go get the job done means a lot.

“But we are still not done. We have one more week and still have that opportunity to be the second American (Collin Morikawa did the trick in 2021) to win the Race to Dubai, which would mean a lot to me. So hopefully we can go out there and cap off the year.”

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