Why Did Patrick Reed Withdraw from The Northern Trust?

The PGA Tour regular season has come to an end. And the three events of the FedExCup playoffs are all set to begin on August 19th. The first event in the playoffs is Northern Trust, where the top 125 players from the FedExCup rankings qualify. Hence, all the prominent golfers will be playing this week. However, Patrick Reed has withdrawn from the event at the last moment. 

Meanwhile, there will be a total of 124 players in the field, and only the top 70 from FedExCup rankings will make a move in the BMW Championship and the top 30 in the Tour Championship. 

Why did Patrick Reed withdraw from the Northern Trust?

According to the PGA Tour, Patrick Reed has withdrawn from the Northern Trust due to an ankle injury. However, he currently sits safely at 22nd place in the FedExCup rankings. So, Reed has more or less already qualified for the BMW Championship. However, for Tour Championship, where only the top 30 get to play, he needs to play well at the BMW Championship to secure his spot. 

Previously, Patrick Reed also withdrew from the last week’s Wyndham Championship without stating any reason. Moreover, along with the injury, fatigue could also be one issue. Reed had been traveling extensively for the past weeks. Firstly, from the U.S. to England for the Open, then flew back and played a couple of events before getting a late call-up for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. 

So, with all this traveling, the threat of fatigue and injury is always high. So Reed did a sensible thing by withdrawing from the Northern Trust, as he can rest and recover completely before the BMW Championship. Moreover, Patrick Reed is a former winner at the Northern Trust in 2019. He scored -2 on the final day to finish the event at -16 and won the tournament by a stroke.  

Meanwhile, there will be no replacements in the event. PGA Tour had already announced that even if a player withdraws, no replacements will be available. Hence, the field will have only 124 players.  

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