Major winning LIV Golf star set for DP World Tour return

LIV Golf League star Patrick Reed will return to the DP World Tour at the Italian Open, making his first start on the circuit in more than a year.

Johnny Percival

21 Jun 2024

LIV Golf star Patrick Reed will return to DP World Tour action for the first time in over a year when he tees it up at the Italian Open next week.

Reed, 33, hasn't played on the European circuit since his infamous tee-gate scandal with Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Dubai Desert Classic.

The notoriously awkward exchange, in which Reed flicked a tee at McIlroy after feeling he had been blanked, laid the stage for a dramatic final day in the desert, with McIlroy eventually prevailing by a single shot.

McIlroy won't be attending the Adriatic Club in Italy next week to duel it out with Reed again, however, with the current World No.2 taking a break from golf after his heartbreaking defeat at the US Open.

A week later, however, Reed will be joined by two of his fellow LIV Golfers at the BWM International Open in Munich.

Home favourite Martin Kaymer and Belgian Thomas Pieters will both be competing, hoping to earn some valuable OWGR points.

With LIV still ineligible for OWGR points, all three players will be aiming to cash in on European soil in an attempt to improve their lowly world rankings.

Once ranked the sixth-best golfer in the world, Reed's position has dropped to 103rd as of this week.

Speaking about the BMW International Open, Reed said: "The BMW Championship in the USA and the BMW PGA Championship are fantastic events; BMW just does it really well. I am sure it will be no different in Munich, and I look forward to the golf fans in Germany."

This week, Reed's focus will be on LIV, though, as the ninth regular season event kicks off in Nashville at The Grove.

Reed has enjoyed an up-and-down season in the breakaway circuit in 2024, with his best result coming recently at LIV Houston, where he finished T3.

The former Masters winner missed out on last week's US Open, bringing an end to his impressive streak of 41 consecutive majors.

With Reed's Masters win having come in 2018, his major exemption has now run out.

He did have a chance to earn a spot at the US Open through a qualifying event.

However, it was slated to begin the day after the final day of the US PGA, so Reed decided to pass on the opportunity.