Patrick Reed is known for having some of the best hands in professional golf. On Wednesday at Royal Birkdale, he put that reputation to work, not for himself, but for a LIV circuit colleague who needed all the help he could get before Thursday's opening round.

Patrick Reed and Scott Vincent played a practice round together at Royal Birkdale on Wednesday morning, per Mirror US Sports, ahead of the 154th Open Championship.

Vincent was candid about what drew him to Reed's company.

"I saw that opportunity to play with [Reed]; it's always good playing with guys that are definitely better than you," he told Mirror US Sports after coming off the ninth green. "One of the challenges this week is trying to figure out how to play these shots around the green, [and there's] no better guy to try and pick his brain than Patrick, because he's just known for having amazing hands."

French amateur Lev Grinberg completed the group. For Vincent, it was a chance to learn from one of the game's most respected operators around the greens before his third career major start.

The specific lesson stayed with him. Vincent said Reed helped him reframe how he approaches tricky short-game situations.

"A lot of the time I put a little too much pressure on, I need to somehow hit this shot perfectly, and he's like, the odds are not in your favour, so you don't need to try and hit them exactly spot on, you need to take the big numbers out of play," Vincent said.

Reed told him something else that landed.

"He's like, OK, I'm seeing this as really hard. Is he seeing this as really hard? And the answer was yes," Reed added.

It wasn't just a practice round for Vincent. He said the week carries more personal meaning than a scorecard can show.

"My whole family's here, it's so cool," he said. "Enjoy this. It's great if you want it to be great."

Vincent came away from the practice round with a clearer picture of how to handle Royal Birkdale. His record at major championships, though, shows just how much of a test this week will be.

Vincent arrives at Birkdale in form and with something to prove

Royal Birkdale is only Vincent's third major start. The Zimbabwean HyFlyers GC player missed the cut at the 2022 Open at St Andrews and failed to make the weekend at this year's U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

He qualified for this week's field by ranking fifth on the Federation Ranking List.

The form coming in is encouraging. Vincent has recorded three consecutive top-15 finishes on LIV Golf, including a top five in Korea. He tees off Thursday alongside 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink and Joakim Lagergren.

Reed, meanwhile, heads into the week having missed cuts at both the U.S. Open and the BMW International Open. The 2018 Masters champion will be looking to Royal Birkdale to turn that stretch around.

What do you think? Can Vincent make the cut at Royal Birkdale with Reed's guidance? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore