Champions Tour Insider: Reid's win changes his plans

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Mike Reid hadn't won since the 2005 Senior PGA Championship before his victory last week at the JELD-WEN Tradition.

Mike Reid knows the signs and he kept seeing them in his game. Things were getting better. What it meant and where it would lead wasn't nearly so clear.

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"There were some good signs in my game but I couldn't have projected those optimistic signs to lead to a championship," Reid said. "I thought perhaps that was asking too much. I did feel I was playing a lot better than I was scoring for a few weeks and things were starting to improve."

But lead to a championship they did, and it was a major.

Reid won the JELD-WEN Tradition last week in a playoff over John Cook. Reid has won twice in his Champions Tour career and both have been majors. He won the 2005 Senior PGA Championship and that seemed like a very long time ago until Sunday's victory, his first top-10 finish in more than two years.

Reid had gone 94 starts without winning and it had left him on the outside looking in. All that changed with a dramatic 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at JELD-WEN. Reid, who joins Peter Jacobsen as the only golfers to hoist major championship trophies in both their victories, earns a full exemption for one calendar year. It makes life much easier for the soft-spoken Reid, who had planned to attempt Monday qualifying for this week's Boeing Classic.

"That says it all, really," Reid said. "Just being able to calculate your schedule without any doubts, to know that you've got a place to play.

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With his son on the bag, Mike Reid won his second Champions Tour major.

"That's a great honor out here, especially at this age, and moreso when you sort of start sliding off the map at age 55. It's a little different when you're 25. This is what you really want to do. There are no other options. That isn't the case at 55. There are other things I can do. Retirement is not far off. You just want to keep playing, and to have that question mark removed is just a great blessing."

The JELD-WEN Tradition marked a week "my family won't soon forget," Reid said.

And many of the memories will be shared by son, Daniel, who caddied for his father. Daniel is a junior at Brigham Young University and a member of the golf team.

"He's caddied for me at least a couple of times a year every since he was 15 or 16," Reid said. "The last few years he's come out in the summer when he's not in school. This was his fourth or fifth tournament this year. He does a fine job. I really enjoy his company. He knows me well enough to know what I'm feeling, he knows what to say and what not to say. He keeps me focused and did a wonderful job.

"It gives (Daniel) an appreciation for what I've done most of my life and it's a heckuva summer job. He can make money for college. It draws us closer together. There's something to be said for that. In 10, 20 or however many years from now we'll remember a lot of the moments we shared together in these circumstances and they'll be able to relate those to their children."

Reid started to get positive vibes about his game at the Senior British Open in England and the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick.

"I felt like I started to drive the ball better and controlling distance with irons a little better each week on pretty demanding golf courses," he said. "I had days each week where I had stretches of pretty good golf. It seemed like a poor start or a poor finish, a three-putt -- something got in the way."

On all eight rounds Reid played at Sunningdale and Crooked Stick, he posted scores between 70 and 73.

"In most cases those rounds could have been lower if just a few things had gone differently," he said. "It's the main reason I started feeling better."

Reid is eager to make the most of his new status and plans to play every Champions Tour event for the rest of the year.

"They're courses that I've played before and like the tournament," he said. "I'm looking forward to them. I committed to everything at the start of the year, didn't get to play in everything. I'm looking forward to finish the year. I think things are definitely on the upswing in my game and I'd just like to keep the momentum going."

Champions Tour Insider notes:

• Reid on the challenge of Monday qualifiers: "I kept telling myself it's an opportunity ... Attitude makes a difference. If you go out there with the attitude it's just another opportunity, another round of golf, I think you have a much better chance."

• Reid's first-place check for $392,000 was the largest of his professional career and moved him to No. 20 on the money list with $522,468. He also advanced from 77th to 73th on the all-time money list ... He picked up 784 points in the Charles Schwab Cup race and is seventh.

• Fred Funk retained his top spot in the Charles Schwab Cup points list and Loren Roberts moved to No. 2 ahead of Bernhard Langer. Larry Mize and Joey Sindelar are next ... Sindelar has become the fourth player to reach the $1 million mark.

• Larry Mize posted his seventh top-10 finish in eight starts with a fourth at JELD-WEN Tradition ... Of the 17 Champions Tour events this year, five have been decided in playoffs and six have been decided by one stroke.