Reed Takes Lead in Quicken Loans National


Patrick Reed carded an even-par 71 to break up a four-way tie for the lead in the Quicken Loans National. The $6.5 million Tour event, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, got underway Thursday at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

Reed, a 23-year-old Texan with two victories earlier this season, managed three birdies and an equal number of bogeys on a tough golf course to get to 6-under 207.

He's two strokes ahead of South Korean Seung-Yul Noh (66), Sweden's Freddie Jacobson (71) and Australia's Marc Leishman (73). Noh's 4-under-par mark was Saturday's lowest score.

Reed, who won the Humana Challenge in January and the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March, began the third round as a co-leader with Leishman, Tour rookie Oliver Goss and Ricky Barnes.

Only three back going into the final round are Americans Richard H. Lee (68), Shawn Stefani (68), Ben Martin (70) and Hudson Swafford (73), along with England's Justin Rose (71) and Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge (71). Rose won the tournament in 2010.

Peter Hanson had the shot of the day. The 36-year-old Swede aced the 222-yard, par-3 second hole with a 4-iron.

Instead of a car or another prize going to the player, Quicken Loans set up a deal where it will pay the mortgage of a fan for a year. The winner of the drawing was Arline Deacon of Fayetteville, Ga. The company will hold a similar drawing for every ace at PGA Tour events the remainder of the year (Hanson's is the 11th of this season).

Other scores included a 75 by Barnes, which dropped the Californian into a tie for 11th at 2-under with fellow Americans Brendon Todd (69), defending champion Bill Has (71) and Brendan Steele (71).

The 20-year-old Goss, a native of Perth, Australia, playing in only his second PGA Tour event as a professional, had a 76 to fall into a share of 15th at 1-under with five others.

After opening with rounds of 68 and 73, Erik Compton posted a 75 and is now T-48 at 3-over 216. The 34-year-old, double heart-transplant recipient needs a high finish this week as only the leading four non-exempt players who finish in the top 12 at Congressional (and at next week's Greenbrier Classic, which he isn't slated to play) will earn a spot in the Open Championship July 17-20.

Reed will play in Sunday's final group with Noh, while Leishman and Jacobson will be in the next-to-last pairing.

For all scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.