HOUSTON PREVIEW: TEXAN REED LOOKS TO LEAD 4ACES GC
Team: 4Aces Golf Club
Previous event team finish: 8th
Season-long team standings: 10th
Top finisher from previous event: Dustin Johnson, T7
Fun stat: Dustin Johnson is fourth in par-4 scoring in 2024 (-23).
Preview
At the midway point of the 2024 season, 4Aces Golf Club isn’t exactly where it wants to be in the standings entering LIV Golf Houston. The good news? The ultra-talented team has time to make a significant jump and position itself for some season-long hardware.
It starts at the top, and that’s a positive considering Captain Dustin Johnson’s recent play. He was his team’s highest finisher at LIV Golf Singapore (T7) and enters Houston ninth in the standings. The two-time major champion has three top-seven finishes, including an individual victory at LIV Golf Las Vegas in February.
Johnson’s competitive juices were also flowing at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he finished T43, including a stellar final-round 5-under 66.
"Obviously, (our team) got off to a little bit of a slow start for us, but with the four scores counting on Sunday, we've kind of been right there in a lot of events with a chance," Johnson said. "All four of us have to play well on Sunday if we want a chance to win. It's just kind of been a little bit of our downfall."
Perhaps the biggest key for the team’s potential second-half surge is Patrick Reed. The 2018 Masters champion started the season slower than he would have liked, but he has hit another gear in recent events and appears poised for a strong opening of the second half. He has three top-20 finishes this season and finished T14 in the last LIV Golf event in Singapore where he shot a combined 8 under on the weekend.
Like Johnson, Reed also made the cut at the PGA Championship. Three of his rounds were under par and resulted in a T53 finish.
But there might be an extra pep in Reed’s step this week. Reed is a Houston-area resident who was born in Texas and lives in The Woodlands outside Houston. The spotlight will be on him as the LIV Golf League plays its first tournament in the state.
“The crowds are going to be absolutely insane,” Reed said. “I've been talking to so many people around here … and they're all pumped and excited for it.”
For years the Houston Open was held as a warm-up for the Masters, and Reed said he’s eager for fans and players alike to see how the Golf Club of Houston typically plays and not prepped to mimic Augusta National conditions.
“I'm really looking forward to actually seeing that golf course, how it's supposed to be played,” Reed said. “We get to actually show the beauty of that golf course.”
As far as the other members of 4Aces GC, and with the team aspect continuing to have great importance due to all scores counting on Sundays, Harold Varner III and Pat Perez are looking to make second-half impacts. Varner III is 46th in the season-long standings while Perez is 49th.
Outside of a blip in Australia, Varner III has been showing signs of breaking out. His best finish came four events ago in Hong Kong (T15) and is coming of a T32 in Singapore where he shot an impressive bogey-free 4-under 67.
"I think it's pretty simple," Varner III said. "I haven't played well. I haven't really contributed to the team. So I just think good golf takes care of everything. I'm just going to work on that, and it's pretty simple. If you play well, good things happen."
Perez, meanwhile, is looking to regain some early-season form, which peaked in Las Vegas when he finished T15.
"I haven't played well really," Perez said. "I don't really know why. I haven't put any less work in. I've actually worked just as much as I have my whole career. I just haven't really seen any scores, haven't really gotten on any streaks to get it going. Just as a team we haven't had low enough scores. With the caliber of players that's out there and the teams that are playing well, we just haven't matched them for three days."
The Golf Club of Houston should be a nice fit for the team considering big hitters can thrive here (it’s more than 7,400 yards) but a sharp short game is also needed due to the layout’s challenging greens and surroundings.