Love him or hate him, Patrick Reed has never been someone who needs the crowd’s support. He enjoys the challenge of competing against the best and making headlines on the biggest stages. Next year, he will have the chance to do both.
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Speaking from Dubai on the eve of the DP World Tour finale, Reed made clear what is among his top goals for 2027.
“I know obviously for my team and my family, and to get back and playing on those Ryder Cup teams and being a thorn in the side for those Europeans has always been something I’ve always enjoyed and had fun with…,” Reed said.
It is a role he knows well, having engaged the Scottish crowd on his 2014 debut and beaten Rory McIlroy in a spirited match at Hazeltine in 2016.
The route back began in January. Days after winning the Dubai Desert Classic, Reed announced he was leaving LIV Golf. That victory, by four shots, was the start of a strong year. He followed it with a win at the Qatar Masters, becoming the first American to take that title. He could have returned to PGA Tour events in the FedEx Cup Fall, but chose to chase points on the European circuit. His stated goal for next season is to “get back to the winners’ circle on the PGA Tour like I was right before I left.” His last PGA Tour win came at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open.
The gamble paid off, though it is no longer a runaway. Patrick Reed has already secured one of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer through the Race to Dubai, whatever happens this week. The title looks harder. He sits third, roughly 700 points behind leader Eugenio Chacarra, and his form has dipped since an injury forced him out of the BMW PGA Championship in September, with a missed cut, a T23 and a T43 since. The finale in Dubai is his eighth appearance in the event.
His other target is the world rankings. He wants to “assert myself into the top ten in the world again,” and top-12 finishes at the Masters and the PGA Championship helped his climb this year.
Patrick Reed is not the only former LIV Golf player looking to return to the Ryder Cup. Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour in January 2026 through its special Returning Member Program, giving him another opportunity to compete for a place on the American team. Reed, meanwhile, left LIV before the 2026 season and announced plans to return to the PGA Tour as a past champion member in 2027.
His return gives him another chance to compete for a Ryder Cup spot, but he will have plenty of competition.
Making the Ryder Cup team will be a different test. The U.S. will use a new system in which points are earned only during the 2027 season, across 31 events, with six automatic spots and six captain’s picks for Jim Furyk. Points begin at The American Express in January and end after the BMW Championship in August. Reed knows what that means.
The challenge is even bigger because the United States has not won a Ryder Cup on European soil since 1993. With Europe winning the last two editions, Furyk’s team will arrive at Adare Manor looking to end a 34-year drought.
“Obviously I know next year it’s going to be important to go out there and play really well next year to make the team,” he said, adding that it would be “right at the top” of his goals.
The stakes will be high when the next Ryder Cup arrives. Europe has won the last two editions, and the next contest will take place at Adare Manor from September 17-19. The United States has not won on European soil since 1993. To end that long wait, the team could use someone like Patrick Reed, who has never been afraid to play the villain in front of a hostile crowd. Reed knows what another Ryder Cup appearance would mean to him. “It would mean everything,” he said about representing the United States again.
But before thinking about the Ryder Cup, Reed has other goals to achieve. His first stop is Dubai, followed by a return to the PGA Tour and a chance to improve his world ranking. A strong run could put him back in the Ryder Cup conversation. Europe may have enjoyed the last two victories, but Reed is hoping to make the next contest a very different story.