Patrick Reed fulfilled two obligations this weekend: To play for his country, and finish the 3M Open

Jul. 25—Patrick Reed was in the scorer's tent after his third round at Saturday's 3M Open when a rules official approached him to inform him he needed to call Andy Levinson, the executive director of USA Golf.

"He said it's about the Olympics," the rules official told Reed.

At that point, Reed knew what was up. It had been determined weeks ago that Reed would be the team's first Olympic alternate, after Brooks Koepka and Patrick Cantlay apparently turned down that designation. So when Bryson DeChambeau tested positive for COVID-19, Reed was going to Tokyo.

He has to pass three straight COVID-19 tests over the course of three days before even flying out to the Games. So he took one Saturday and planned to fly home to the Houston area Sunday afternoon before taking his second. Assuming he tests negative again Monday night, Reed will fly out Tuesday morning from Houston to San Francisco before crossing the Pacific Ocean.

He'll land in Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon local time, just a half day ahead of the start of competition, without any chance to play in a practice round. Reed joins Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele on the U.S. men's team.

"These days with how good yardage books are and with how much we have to kind of figure things out on the fly as it is, I expect to go in there and play well and be able to manage the golf course and hit the golf shots," Reed said after his final-round 71 on Sunday.

Still, that's a lot to go through to play in an Olympics that won't feature fans. And Reed has already played in the Games. He will be the only American men's golfer to have competed in both Rio and Tokyo.

"Anytime I can represent my country and go play for my country, I'm going to do it no matter what, no matter where it is, no matter what time zone or how I have to get there or anything," Reed said. "When they gave me the name Captain America — the fans did — it feels like an obligation and a duty of mine to go out and play for our country whenever I can and whenever I get the call. To be able to call myself not just an Olympian, but a two-time Olympian, is pretty sweet. I look forward to going over there and playing. I know things are going to be a little different this time ... but to be able to go in and represent our country with a small group of guys and go out there and try to bring home gold is just an honor I can't pass up."

The Captain America designation was used often at TPC Twin Cities on Sunday. Fans were well aware of the news that came out Saturday evening that Reed was now Tokyo-bound. "Captain America," "Good luck in Tokyo" and "USA" cheers were prevalent as Reed walked past the local spectators.

The Ryder Cup at Hazeltine in 2016 helped cement Reed's status as a Ryder Cup legend. The Fans remember.

"It's just an awesome feeling to come back and kind of get those juices pumping," Reed said.

Given Reed's wild schedule over the next few days, it would've been understandable had he withdrawn ahead of Sunday's final round in Blaine. The payout for finishing outside of the top 30 probably isn't as valuable to him as the extra night's rest at home ahead of Tokyo. But withdrawing never crossed his mind.

"I was definitely playing no matter what. When I start something, I finish it," Reed said. "It wouldn't have mattered if I could have gotten out last night, it wouldn't have mattered to me. I have an obligation to be here to play, and once I start an event, I'm definitely going to finish the event."

Reed said it would "mean everything" to go win a medal.

"It's already awesome to be called an Olympian, but to be called a gold medalist, silver medalist or bronze medalist, it

would mean a lot," Reed said. "To go ahead and kind of put a stamp and be able to add that to the trophy case would be amazing."