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Patrick Reed makes instructor tweak: Kirk back to full-time, replacing Leadbetter

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Team Reed is changing things up a little.

Patrick Reed decided prior to the U.S. Open to having longtime instructor Kevin Kirk return to full-time duties while David Leadbetter will move into a “consulting role,” according to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak.

“Really never left KK, but I got back with him full-time right before the U.S. Open,” Reed told Golfweek on Wednesday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “Lead, KK and I, we all attack it together.”

Reed began working with Leadbetter during the week of the 2019 Valspar Championship, just less than a year after winning the Masters and the same year that Kirk was named PGA Teacher of the Year. He replaced Kirk in a lead role last summer, but Reed noted Leadbetter’s recent foot injury has affected their work together.


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“He still can’t travel,” Reed said. “His foot is still beat up and in a boot. It’s hard doing a lot of things over a telephone.”

Reed won the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year at Torrey Pines, marking his fourth straight year with a PGA Tour victory. He is currently ranked ninth in the world and has finished in the top 20 in each of the past seven majors, with five finishes of T-13 or better.

Kirk, who also serves as director of golf instruction at The Woodlands Country Club, notably caddied for Reed on the final day of the 2019 Presidents Cup after Reed’s regular caddie, Kessler Karain, was suspended after a physical altercation with a fan.