SAN DIEGO _ Patrick Reed's third round at the Farmers Insurance Open was eventful to say the least.
No problem. Reed is used to drama.
The 29-year-old Reed's path to 2-under 70 on Torrey Pines South on Saturday included one double bogey, four bogeys and eight birdies. He is 8 under through 54 holes and tied for seventh in search of his best finish here in five starts.
"I got myself behind the 8-ball early and had to try to claw with it," Reed said of his 69-69-70 start to the tournament. "Because of a couple of missed shots here and there, I racked up too many bogeys. The good thing is I'm making birdies. Hopefully, (on Sunday) I can clean it up and not have those bogeys and have a 7- or 8-under-par round."
Reed bagged his first birdie after three-putting for a double on the second hole. He strung together three straight birdies after a bogey on the fourth and added another at the turn to move to 2 under for the round.
Reed gave both strokes back on the 11th and 12th holes and then moved back to 2 under with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes.
The 6-foot putt that Reed sank on the 16th was one of only four pars all afternoon.
After a bogey on 17, Reed gave himself a healthy look at an eagle to round out an eventful day. His tee shot left him 256 yards from the hole on the par-5 18th, and Reed pulled out his 3-wood and aimed for the flag.
The ensuing shot left him 16 feet from the pin, but Reed's would-be eagle putt just missed.
"Very easy decision, actually," Reed said of going for the green in two. "Kind of how I was playing, I felt like at that point in the round I was hitting the ball pretty solid."
Reed tapped in his birdie to mild applause _ unlike the reception he received weeks earlier at Royal Melbourne in the Presidents Cup when rowdy Aussies mocked his sand controversy at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
The 2018 Masters winner was penalized two strokes for twice brushing away the sand behind his ball with his club.
Reed denied purposely improving his lie, but was heckled as a "cheater" in Australia, as well as on at least one occasion in the States at the Tournament of Champions on Maui to start the new year.
A standard bearer on Saturday said jeers greeted Reed at times throughout his round. One "cheater" call was easily heard after his bogey on 17th and was quickly drowned out by applause and shouts of "Captain America" in reference to his Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup success. The "cheater" shout was heard twice more as Reed marched down the 18th fairway, but there was not a peep of it as he finished his round or signed autographs and took selfies with fans after exiting the scoring room.
"The fans," Reed said, "have been great."
