Masters notebook: Molinari returns as contender, Reed set to defend

AUGUSTA, Ga. – News and notes from Tuesday at the Masters. We’ll update this file throughout the day, so check back often. SOUND SLEEP FOR REED A year ago on a Saturday, Patrick Reed slept like a baby. He had just shot three rounds in the 60s at Augusta National, held a three-shot lead going into Sunday, and was on the verge of his first major. So yeah, nothing much to dwell on, right? “I thought I wasn’t going to sleep very well,â€� Reed recalled. “I’ve heard from the past from other champions and other golfers that have always told me that whenever you have an opportunity to sleep on a lead going into Sunday at a major, you’re going to have a rough night. … “Honestly, I was completely surprised. I slept so well.â€� Reed shot 71 in that final round to win by a stroke. He’d like nothing more than to hold onto the Green Jacket for another year. While his results are not encouraging – no top-10s in his last nine PGA TOUR starts – he likes where his game is right now. Plus, he knows what it takes to succeed at Augusta National. “Even if you have a perfect game plan, and you know what you’re trying to do around the golf course, you still always are wondering, OK, well is this the right game plan or am I doing the right things, since you haven’t won here. But now, actually having the win, I know what I need to do in order to compete and have a chance on Sunday. “Knowing that I have to get the jacket back at the end of the week, it makes me more hungry and more motivated to keep the jacket.â€� – Mike McAllister ONCE A CADDIE, NOW A CONTENDER  The first time Francesco Molinari walked Augusta National in a competitive environment was in 2006. He was the caddie for his brother Edoardo, who qualified for the Masters by virtue of his U.S. Amateur win the previous year. “I carried the clubs and prayed that he was going to hit good shots,â€� Francesco recalled. “… It was great to be here. It wasn’t fun trying to pick club for him. It’s a tough course to caddie around.â€� It took four more years before Francesco, the younger of the two Molinari brothers, qualified to play the Masters. He’s made seven previous starts but has never made much noise on the weekend. Of course, he’s never arrived at Augusta National with the kind of credentials he currently owns, as the reigning Open Championship winner and Europe’s leading point producer at the Ryder Cup. With a PGA TOUR win this season (the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard), and a solid effort in his most recent start (semifinalist at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play), Molinari enters with a raised level of confidence. “Clearly, I’m in a much different position to where I was coming in the last few years,â€� he said. “… I can’t deny that. I feel good about my game. … Confidence comes with success, and I’ve had a lot of success in the last few months. I think that the important thing is that I don’t have to let my guard down.â€� – Mike McAllister KOEPKA HAPPY TO BE BACK AT AUGUSTA Brooks Koepka didn’t own a major title the last time he played Augusta National. He finished T11 at the Masters two years ago, but missed last year’s tournament because of the wrist injury that hampered him in early 2018. How has he changed in the two years since his last Masters appearance? “I’ve never been a major champion when I played here,â€� Koepka said. “Completely different player probably. Understand how to handle pressure a lot better. Understand this golf course a lot better.â€� Koepka was still in a soft cast at this time year. It was painful just to get shampoo out of the bottle, he said. He watched last year’s Masters on television, then went on to win two of 2018’s final three majors. “I think that was something I needed, to really kind of find my love for the game again, something that was important to me, to sit down and watch, I think, and really realize how much I do miss this game, assess kind of where I was at,â€� Koepka said. He’s happy to be back at Augusta National, but he also isn’t 100 percent. It has nothing to do with the wrist. That is fully healed. The famously fit golfer has refrained from lifting weights since THE PLAYERS Championship while dealing with fatigue. A recent diet may have been one reason he’s been feeling sluggish. Koepka limited himself to 1,800 calories per day in an attempt to lose weight. “You look at somebody like Michael Phelps or somebody like that eating 6,000 or 7,000 calories by lunch time,â€� Koepka said. “But I wanted to do it and try to lose some weight, and maybe went about it a little too aggressively for just a long period of time and the intensity of what I was doing.â€� Koepka has finished MC-T56-T56 in his last three starts. He still ranks 11th in the FedExCup after winning THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in October and finishing runner-up in The Honda Classic last month.

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