AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Patrick Reed, Masters champion. Roll it around on your tongue. Speak it aloud. See how it sounds. After a stunning 6-under 66 from Reed in on Friday at Augusta National, we are just 36 holes from it happening. Reed leads at 9-under 135 after two days at the 2018 Masters by a pair over Marc Leishman following the best show of the second round.
Reed resonated from the start with birdies on his first three holes and a hopped-up stare that said he's here to stay. Three more birdies to close out his first nine on Nos. 6-9, and he had me convinced that's exactly what he's here to do. Then came the second nine.
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He made a bogey at No. 10 but made one-putt birdies at Nos. 13 and 14; in all, he has just 51 putts over the first 36 holes of this tournament. Reed leads the field in that category. He also birdied No 15 for another three-hole stretch of birdies to run the Friday count to nine but closed bogey-par-par for the 66.
It was enough for just his second lead or co-lead after any round in a major championship, and it was nearly nine strokes better than the field average. Even Tiger Woods, who is 13 strokes back, was impressed.
"I'll be honest with you," Woods told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi. "I was just hoping to keep it within 10 [of Reed]."
He didn't, but Reed has plenty of company. Just behind Reed (-9) and Leishman (-7) under are major champions Henrik Stenson (-5), Rory McIlroy (-4), Jordan Spieth (-4), Dustin Johnson (-3), Justin Thomas (-3), Justin Rose (-2), Louis Oosthuizen (-2) and Bubba Watson (-2). That's 14 major trophies chasing zero at the top of the board.
That's part one of a two-part narrative, but Reed doesn't seem concerned.
"I've been in this kind of position before in big events, whether it's in the lead or the final group," Reed told Rinaldi. "It's just another day at the golf course. ... Having the whole family here, I'll be able to just hang out in the morning, hang out with the little ones, hang out with them and keep my mind off it."
Reed's history will work against him here. He's only led a major championship one other time on the weekend, and he's never felt the heat he'll feel over the final 36 holes this weekend. Reed, remember, just notched his first-ever top 10 at a major last August at the PGA Championship. While it's true that Saturday is another day, I don't think it's just another day.
He's given himself a bit of a cushion with the two-stroke lead, but as Spieth saw on Friday morning, those can disappear in a hurry around here. The swings are furious and the falls unforgiving. No matter how this goes, I have a feeling it's going to be startling. Reed insisted he has a game plan, though.
"Just do what I've been doing," Reed continued. "Play smart golf, play from the fairway. That's really key. If I can play from the fairway, I can pick my spots and iron shots on the green. That's really what it's going to come down to: hitting the ball in play and being able to stay aggressive."
Reed hit a (probably unsustainable) 22-of-28 fairways in the first two rounds. He's right. If he keeps doing that, it's curtains. But what happens when he gets into trouble for the first time on Saturday? What happens when he hits it in the water on No. 12? Those are the moments, ultimately, that define major champs. Reed has cracked par just four times in 14 attempts on this course. Two of those came over the first two rounds. That doesn't engender a ton of confidence.
The second, and more fascinating, part of the two-hit narrative? Coming in to this week, the tournament felt like this event should be worth two green jackets because of how many top golfers were playing so well. It felt like we were going to get a monster, all-time champion. A second (or third or fourth) green jacket. Or a Grand Slam winner. Or two majors in a row. Something monumental.
Now, almost all of those storylines are chasing one we didn't see coming: somebody with no top 10s here, somebody with more rounds at 75 or worse (six) than appearances (five).
But it's fitting that, in a year where historical greats like Tiger Woods, McIlroy and Spieth, along with stars like Johnson, Thomas and Rose, are all humming that Reed, of all people, is trying to usurp them all. That's a very on-brand move for Reed, who fancies himself the best player in the field, if not the world.
It's easy to see a group of two or three or more running him down from behind on Saturday or Sunday. Really easy. To win this major in this year, it seems one might need to be more battle tested than Reed is. More forged for what awaits at this course over the final two rounds.
However, if you were picking golfers capable of upending the historical through line here, Reed would have to top the list. His iron play and swaggering, finger-wagging persona is built seemingly only for the biggest of events. This one certainly qualifies.
If one of the giants of the present game or icons of the future doesn't win this tournament, Reed taking it and rolling into Butler Cabin on Sunday evening with a bald eagle on both shoulders as Sergio Garcia tries to slip a jacket on him would be kind of perfect. Tough to envision, sure, but it also makes perfect sense.
