With a final-round 69, Patrick Reed claimed a one-shot victory over Abraham Ancer at The Northern Trust.

Reed finished his four round at Liberty National Golf Club on 16-under par to secure his seventh career PGA Tour trophy, and second Northern Trust title. In the process, the 29-year old Texas native became the seventh player – all major champions – to claim multiple victories at the greater New York event, joining Vijay Singh (4), Jack Nicklaus (2), Seve Ballesteros (2), Ernie Els (2), Sergio Garcia (2), and Dustin Johnson (2).

The victory earned the Augusta State alum $1,665,000 and 2,000 FedExCup points, along with 76 Official World Golf Rankings points.

Afterwards, an excited Reed met with the media to discuss his first victory since his 2018 Masters victory. Here a few pulls from the back and forth.

This week’s 3 Questions for the Winner is powered by The Titleist Store at Amazon.

Presidents Cup, “Captain America”

Given how much you like team events, I know the focus is FedExCup, but was the Presidents Cup on your mind and how much would it frustrate you if you were not on that team in December?

PATRICK REED: You know, it was definitely on my mind a little more than other weeks because of where we are. You know, at Liberty National where we won in 2017, and you know, having the dinner with Tiger and the guys earlier this week, and seeing the Statue of Liberty on every hole, and then having the fans yell “Captain America” and “USA” all week, it definitely was on my mind.

But the biggest thing for me was just to put that behind me and just focus on the golf I’m playing because at the end of the day; if you play good golf, that all takes care of itself, whether you make the team or not.

At this point I knew where I stood and needed to go out and have a good Playoffs and good run here and secure my spot or at least get myself in position where I have a chance of being a pick. It just comes down to one of those things that if you play good golf, it all takes care of itself.

Majors vs Playoffs

As players, you build your legacies around the majors. What is it like to have so much riding in these three weeks? Team events, money, standings, whatever.

PATRICK REED: It’s a lot. I think the biggest thing is PGA TOUR, The European Tour, what they have done now is they have made sure that it’s not just the majors, not just the World Golf Championships. They are now having where you have Playoffs, FedExCup, Race to Dubai, their playoff events, and all the other events they play now mean a little bit more.

You know, before it was all like, okay, it was majors and World Golf Championships. Well, you can’t just win the majors and the World Golf Championships to win a FedExCup. You know, you have to play well all year, and you know, they have definitely scheduled it now, backloading the schedule where the majors start and all of a sudden seems like you have a major or World Golf Championships every other week and then you get to the Playoffs.

They have put it in a position now where you have to be in good form in order to succeed. It’s one of these things that you know, guys are going to go out and you’re going to see more guys play in the fall, as well as earlier on in the year so they can kind of take a little bit of a break before the majors hit; so they are not so far behind.

You don’t play in the fall, you’re so far behind the guys in the FedExCup. I’ve been in that situation. It’s not fun going to your first event and all of a sudden you’re sitting there, 190th in the FedEx and you’re like, wait, I haven’t really played and these other guys are playing in the fall and you’re 800 points behind.

Fall Schedule

You mentioned a busy fall. Can you say some of the events you’re going to play? Are you going to China and Japan, or is it all European Tour stuff?

PATRICK REED: It’s a mixture. Honestly, I mean, we’re still trying to figure out what we’re going to be playing, like kind of actually nail down but definitely going to be playing China, play Zozo and CJ Cup and then of course hopefully Race to Dubai, the final is in Dubai. Going to play KLM, Germany and Wentworth. I know those for sure.

And then of course, these Playoffs. But after that, I’ll probably add six or seven more just so I make sure I play about every week coming in (laughing) it kind of seems like.

I think that’s the hardest thing for me is I have to make sure that I’m able to monitor kind of my energy level playing on both tours. Because when this season stops, that other one, the European Tour is still going and it’s a crucial time because you’ve got Playoffs there, as well.

During the time there in the Fall Series and also during the fall when guys are taking breaks; if you’re from the PGA TOUR I’m out there traveling the world and playing. It’s one of those things that we didn’t monitor very well last year and earlier this year it was something that we’re going to definitely learn from from this year and monitor going forward.

Credit: PGA Tour Media, Fastscripts, Getty Images