More than 20cm of rain lashed The Woodlands Country Club in Texas on Wednesday afternoon.
It was ample to send everybody at the superb Houston venue of the Golf Australia national camp scurrying for cover.
All bar one person, that is.
As torrential rain slowly but surely made the course unplayable, only Patrick Reed stayed the journey as elite pros and amateurs all around him scurried for cover.
For three hours he honed the skills he’s preparing to take to Carnoustie for the upcoming Open Championship in the quest for his second major championship of 2018.
Reed had been scheduled to later speak to the young Australian contingent, but delayed until Thursday morning when the elements were more friendly for all.
Then, right at the prescribed 7.15am Thursday morning, the Masters champion was there, fully open to the probing questions of Australia’s elite youngsters and their coaches.
Their eyes and ears did not budge for a full 45 minutes as firstly his coach, Kevin Kirk, then Reed himself outlined their theories about making it in professional golf.
And the theme was simple – work hard and with no excuses.
Many of the Aussie contingent had watched Reed from the dry confines of The Woodlands clubhouse a day earlier, and were immediately left pondering their own motivations when the American chided them: “What are y’all dry for?”
Ramming home not only that message, but also his own attention to detail, Reed made particular reference before a question from Kiran Day when he acknowledged the Perth youngster had been the second last person out putting in the rain a day earlier.
GA high performance manager Matt Cutler said that, unlike many guest speakers, Reed was inundated with questions from the start and throughout his time alongside Kirk – the main man behind the now annual Houston training camp – at the front of the group.
“To be honest, I think he would have been happy to keep going, but we all had 8am sessions and Patrick was scheduled to practise at 8am, so that was the only reason we stopped,” Cutler said.
“They all loved it, including the coaches. There were questions left, right and centre.”
Cutler said there were a couple of late questions about the Masters win, but was pleased to hear the youngsters focus on questions to both men about what makes Reed so good.
“There were questions about how he prepares and his phenomenal work ethic,” Cutler said.
“His basic message was that if he works harder than anyone else, he has an advantage.
“For our guys to have seen the way he applied that in the rain the day before was very cool.
“He told them to outwork everyone at their level, outsmart everyone and you’ll be the best you can be.
“He said you’ll slowly get better if you outwork your level, then you move on to the next level. Then outwork them until whenever you reach your threshold, fulfil your potential.”
Reed said part of the reason he practised so hard in the rain was to prepare for what we might encounter in Scotland later in July, that the ball behaved differently in wet conditions and that by staying out in the wild conditions, he would know more than his rivals.
Kirk said Reed would work six days a week between tournaments, but importantly that he would do it with great intensity.
“Patrick told us that there was no point working 10 hours if you only were really grinding on three of them,” Cutler said.
“He said go flat out when you’re out there … leave nothing in the tank.”
And with that, Reed went back out on to The Woodlands with a debt to pay.
He had left the course two hours earlier than planned on Wednesday when casual water made play literally impossible.
So for the next two days, he will work his scheduled hours, plus factor those two in to make up for lost time.
There are no short cuts for Patrick Reed.