DORAL, Fla. — Patrick Reed’s rise has been, to say the least, meteoric.
He was ranked 586th in the world in 2012 and his only route into PGA Tour events was to attempt Monday qualifying. He tried to Monday qualify for eight PGA Tour events and got into six.
In 2013, he got his PGA Tour card by qualifying on the number at Q-School and finished the year ranked 64th in the world.
Before he teed it up at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral, Reed was ranked 44th in the world.
When he putted out for bogey on the 72nd hole of the tournament to finish 4-under to secure a one-shot victory on the Blue Monster on Sunday, Reed vaulted to 20th in the world and third on the Ryder Cup points list.
Next stop? Maybe a win in his first career crack at a major championship next month at Augusta National, where he went to college at Augusta State and won two NCAA titles. That would seem fitting given the speed-of-light manner in which Reed’s career is moving.
Sunday was Reed’s third PGA Tour win in 14 starts, dating back to his August win at the Wyndham and including his January victory at the Humana. In each of those, Reed carried the 54-hole lead into the final round, which he also did Sunday, leading by two shots over Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan.
“I’m just building experience and also building confidence that when I get in these kind of situations I can close deals,’’ Reed said.
His caddie, 25-year-old Kessler Karain, who is the brother of Reed’s wife, Justine, who doubles as his regular caddie, described Reed’s demeanor “very calm, but killer.’’
“He’s got that killer instinct,’’ Karain said. “You would think with all that pressure a lot of people would cave. He doesn’t cave.’’
Justine Reed, who is due with the couple’s first child in May and intends to return to his bag later in the summer, called her husband “cool as a cucumber.’’
Reed was cool Sunday while some of the game’s biggest stars froze. Tiger Woods, who began the day three shots behind Reed, shot 78 and finished nine shots behind him. Phil Mickelson shot 74 and never challenged. Nor did Rory McIlroy, who shot 74 and finished tied with Woods at 25th.
Dufner, playing in the final pairing with Reed, shot 76, as did Mahan, who was in the second-to-last group with Woods.
Woods was not in the field in either of Reed’s first two wins, so Sunday was significant because of the strength of the field — with 49 of the top 50 ranked players in the world playing.
“It’s Tiger Woods,’’ Reed said. “He’s the best golfer probably ever to live, and whenever he’s in the field you always are looking where his name is. To play against a field like that and go wire-to-wire and close it off at the end, it just shows that I have what it takes to play at the top level, as well as have what it takes to be one of the top players in the world just like them.’’
Reed did it in style, cruising unaffected by the pressure for most of the afternoon, during which he increased his lead to four shots for a while.
When there was pressure applied to him, with Jamie Donaldson making a run at him and slicing his lead to one shot, Reed responded.
Donaldson, who shot 70 Sunday and finished tied for second with Bubba Watson at 3-under, birdied the 17th, moving to 4-under with Reed at 5-under. But the 38-year-old from Wales bogeyed 18 to fall back to 3-under, leaving Reed with a two-shot lead when he got to the 18th tee.
He played 18 conservatively, playing away from the water on the left by hitting a 3-iron off the tee and laying up before the green, playing for bogey. Like everything else this week, it worked for him.
“I have a lot of confidence in my game,’’ Reed said. “My swing coach, Kevin Kirk, my agents, Mike Creasy and Kevin Kang, my wife, and my whole team behind me, they know how good I am and they believe I’m a top-five player in the world … and I believe it as well.’’
After what has taken place since August, climaxed by Sunday’s win, who’s to argue?