Patrick Reed has his sights set on a first victory of the year as he tees it up in Germany for the first time in his career at the Porsche European Open.
American Ryder Cup star Reed is among a strong field in Hamburg as Green Eagle Golf Course plays host to the event for the first time, with Major winners Jimmy Walker and Charl Schwartzel, along with defending champion Alexander Levy set to take on the challenging 7,582-yard North Course.
Reed, a five time PGA Tour winner, has recorded a series of top-20 finishes so far this season but is yet to taste victory in 2017. The 26 year old is hoping to be back in the winner’s circle after spending two weeks in Europe at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Reed’s Ryder Cup team-mate Walker, who will defend his US PGA Championship title at Quail Hollow in two weeks, is also making his first appearance in Germany this week with the host course set to provide a long and demanding test, with a total of five par fives, four of which are on the back nine.
The 38 year old finished in a share of 54th place at The Open last week and heads to Hamburg hoping to make plenty of birdies. Also in the field this week is fellow American Pat Perez, who has joined the European Tour as an affiliate member for the rest of the season.
Player Quotes
Patrick Reed
“I felt like I did a lot of things really well last week that I can carry over to this week and hopefully play some solid golf and get a chance on Sunday.
“It’s so long, especially being wet and having some of those long par fives. It is definitely going to show a fun and exciting finish, and you really just need to make sure you ride the ship on the long hauls and make as many birdies you can with your opportunities.
“I feel like I have actually been playing better than I did last year and I’m just not getting the results I want. I have been getting a lot of top 20’s, top 25’s but haven’t won a golf tournament yet this year and haven’t given myself many opportunities to win. So hopefully this is that week that I can get it on the right side and instead of finishing tenth or fifteenth I can get the win.”
Alexander Levy
“It was good memories for me – my third win on the European Tour and it was really nice – I can remember the shot from the play-off and it was really nice because this tournament gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season. It’s nice to come back and enjoy the tournament.
“You prefer to play with par fives because you can control yourself. You can play aggressive or you can play a little bit more steady, and most of the time you can go in two shots, or three shots for birdie time.
“I feel a little bit tired because we have played a lot of tournaments in a row but I take three days at home after the British (Open) and I’m happy to be here because it’s always nice to have good memories about what you did.”
Jimmy Walker
“It’s my first time here so I was really excited to come, my wife flew in and we kind of left the kids at home and we’re just kind of treating it to check out Hamburg, and now that the sun is out it’s even better.
“It is very long, there is a lot of undulation in the greens so you have to be careful where you are hitting it on the greens and it’s tight in spots too, but a long golf course with the weather the way it is as well.
“I feel pretty good. I was hitting it well last week, just haven’t been making a lot of birdies so just looking for a little golf mojo and get things going in the right direction. It’s been an interesting year this year but things are looking up.”
Charl Schwartzel
“I’ve just heard from word of mouth – I haven’t seen it – I played four holes in the pro-am so I’m not going to get to see it before tomorrow but I’ve heard it’s really long, but that’s fine for me because it’s actually more my game.
“It’s nice to see them move around, I think it’s great that Porsche has now taken over the European Open, it was a magnificent tournament back when I played it in the early 2000’s and now to see it back on tour moving around, it’s what it needs to be.
“I haven’t really played that much but I feel fresh, I have a really big stretch of tournaments now building up and my game feels good and I’m looking forward to all of the golf that is coming.”
