“These are the kinds of stories you hear from the past.”

He trails the first round Wells Fargo Championship leaders by one but as Sean Martin explained before an opening 66, Patrick Reed is just the kind of refreshing, retro, free-market success story that the tour needs more of. But with fewer Monday qualifiers and Q-School's demise, don't count on them coming along too often.

Reed was a first-team All-American last year at two-time national champion Augusta State but is without status on any major tour. After finishing 35th at the Texas Open, he made the nine-hour drive with his fiancee, Justine Karain, to New Orleans. They arrived at 2:45 a.m., sleeping four hours before the Zurich Classic’s Monday qualifier. An 8-iron to 2 feet on the second playoff hole earned him a second consecutive start. He birdied five of his final eight holes at TPC Louisiana to tie for 24th.

The pair took a circuitous route to this week’s Tour stop in Charlotte. Their first flight went from New Orleans to Chicago’s Midway International Airport. The next one landed in Greenville, S.C., some 90 minutes from Charlotte. They arrived at the hotel around 1:15 a.m. Monday, with another Monday qualifying round awaiting. He shot 65 to advance to the Wells Fargo Championship.

Reed is accompanied by his fiancee, Justine Karain, who works as Reed's caddie.

“It’s been a very hectic couple of months, but a very happy couple of months,” Reed said. “I’m in a great state of mind and very happy. She’s keeping me calm. She’s the most positive one on the golf course. When I get down, she picks me up.”

Reed proposed to Karain, whom he met while attending high school in Baton Rouge, La., in January, shortly after returning from a victory in a professional event in Trinidad & Tobago. They also moved to Houston that month.

She does more than carry the bag. Karain, a former high-school golfer, helps read the putts.