Patrick Reed admits 2017 struggles have been equipment related

Patrick Reed has not had a 2017 to remember.

The five-time Tour winner has just one top 10 finish in 12 events this season. He’s missed only two cuts, but that single top 10 performance came at the limited-field SBS Tournament of Champions. So, what gives with Captain America? His equipment has been giving him problems.

Reed doesn’t want to point the finger, as he said in his press conference Wednesday, "but this was probably the one time that I could actually say my equipment wasn't set-up how it's supposed to be for me," he said.

Tour players will tell you one or two degrees of difference in loft angles is all it takes to warp a best-in-the-world type of swing. Reed says his irons were off as much as two to two and a half degrees, and it has made a huge difference. Reed is currently ranked 186th in Strokes Gained: Approach the green, which, though it's a small sample size, is by far the worst standing of his career. But his game is on the mend, he says.

"Ever since we fixed that, it started trending in the right direction," Reed continued. "It's taken me a little bit of time to get into the new driver. Playing on both Tours I didn't have an off-season which I like to do a lot of my work on the off-season with my new stuff."

So far, so good for Reed in Texas. He turned in 4-under 32 Thursday morning.