Winning The Barclays will take care of everything for Patrick Reed

Patrick Reed is looking for his first win of 2016. (Getty Images)

Patrick Reed hasn’t won this season on the PGA Tour.

He’s also in the precarious position of sitting eighth in the U.S. Ryder Cup points standings, with eight automatic spots on captain Davis Love III’s American team doled out on Sunday.

Now, after two rounds of The Barclays, Reed is in position to fix both of those problems. Reed leads by two shots at Bethpage Black, at 8-under 134, over Emiliano Grillo and Rickie Fowler, who is No. 12 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

In the pole position with two rounds to go, Reed is more focused on winning the tournament than securing enough points to get on a second consecutive Ryder Cup team.

“Really I’m going into this week trying to win a golf tournament,” he said. “At the end of the day, if I go and I take care of me and do what I need to do this week, then Ryder Cup will take care of itself.”

Even if Reed doesn’t wind up winning or, worse, somehow tumbles way down the leaderboard and doesn’t make the team on points, it would seem Reed’s 2016 has done more than enough to merit a captain’s pick. While Reed is yet to hoist a trophy this year, he has nine top-10 finishes in 24 starts this year. He finished just outside of the top 10 in the final two majors of the year as well.

Reed’s broader resume of results this year pleases him even if it doesn’t result in a win.

“You have guys that are going to win in years and you’re going to have guys that aren’t going to win in years,” he said. “I think this year has been a lot better than last year and the previous years on consistency. That’s a big part that I’ve been working on is to make sure I keep myself into golf tournaments.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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