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SHELL HOUSTON OPENApril 1, 2015Patrick ReedHUMBLE, TEXAS DOUG MILNE: All right. Patrick Reed, thanks for joining us for few minutes here at the Shell Houston Open. Lot of positives for you this week, home game, get to sleep in your owned bed. Off to a good start this season with one victory under your belt. Near miss in Tampa in your last start before this week. So you've had a chance to see the course. With that said, just some comments on being here this week. PATRICK REED: It's always good to be back home. Honestly, I don't play here very often over at Redstone -- well, Golf Club of Houston. You know, to come back and play it again and kind see how the golf course is playing, it's playing a lot firmer and faster than I expected. We seem to be getting a lot of rain. The golf course is holding up great. Hopefully I can figure it all out and put a good week this week so I can have some confidence next week. Q. Patrick, how many times have you played this course, what's your history with this course? PATRICK REED: Last time I played -- I played. DOUG MILNE: '13? PATRICK REED: Not even. I played three, nine hole rounds last week, nine holes each day for three days. Before that, the last time I played was the Friday of the tournament two years ago. Houston is huge. I don't make it over here very often. I mainly stay and practice out of my home course since my swing coach is there. I don't really play here very often. The good thing, it seems to fit my eye pretty well and it's always nice to sleep in your own bed. Q. Patrick, we don't get to see you here. From what you've accomplished at such a young age, I think only four, five have the number of wins before 25. You're playing and focused on each week. Do you have your arms around what you accomplished in a short amount of time and what it's meant to you? PATRICK REED: It means a lot to have the wins. At the same time, I feel like the main thing that really stands out for me is my consistency. Two years ago I would either play really well or really poorly and would be missing cuts going home. Seems like now, even when I feel like one part of my game isn't quite there, another part is able to pick it up and I'm able to be a little more consistent and have chances to either win or at least chance to get a Top-25 or Top-10 in events. I feel like that part has really stood out to me, which is a key part to, I feel, success for a long period of time, not just a short run. Q. What have you learned from the Masters last year? What do you want to do differently this year? PATRICK REED: Last year I felt like I hit the ball really well there. That's one of those places you need to know where to put the golf ball. When that pin is front left, middle of the green, sometimes is probably the worst spot you could put it on some holes. That's normally how I would play a golf course. Going into there, I didn't really play it very much before so I didn't quite understand that until come Thursday and Friday. Hopefully when I get out there, I have a better game plan, kind of where to attack each hole and where to leave myself for pin placements so I can hopefully give myself a little easier chance. Q. Have you been there this year? PATRICK REED: Went over, played three days.  Looking good and fast. Q. When? PATRICK REED: On -- right after Valspar I flew over. Q. What led you to adding this event this year after you skipped the last year heading to the Masters, what changed this time around? PATRICK REED: Last year I played, since it was the first time playing in a Major, I played a week before in two of them, made both of the cuts. And then the other two I did not play at all, I didn't make a single cut (laughter). So we're going to see if that's part of it or it's just -- also being home. I wanted to give the fans I have around here support, come out and play for them, allow them to see us play. And I felt like it was a good tract to get ready Augusta and try to figure out some of the things I need to work on. Q. We talked to Sergio and Westwood yesterday, have great careers. You're a young guy. You're coming into your own. How important is it for you to maybe put your stamp on that early on here and get a Major under your belt, if possible, at this stage of the game? PATRICK REED: That would be great. Sign me up (laughter). It would always be great, but first thing is I have to give myself a chance come down to Sunday. I haven't done that yet. The two ones I made the cut at, I would have to shoot 18 to win. I need to first give myself a shot going down Sunday at a Major. And once that happens, if I get myself in that position, I feel like if I go out and play how I know how to play, then come down the 72nd hole, I'll have a shot. That's all you can ask for. Best players in the world, not only that, all of them that one week you have to play your best. Q. Do you feel like Jordan may be the guy to beat, both here and perhaps even at Augusta, the way he's playing? PATRICK REED: It's kind of hard to tell. I feel like if I'm playing -- if I'm playing the best golf I can and everything is clicking, everyone is going to try to run after me. Bubba has got a good record there, too. If Jordan is playing great, everyone is going to run after him. All depends on who is playing well that week. Q. Sports fans love rivalries. Are you developing rivalries with anybody like a Jordan because of your Texas proximity with these guys? PATRICK REED: We badger back and forth a little bit. We're good friends. We try to get under each other's skin. I don't know if it's really a rivalry yet with anybody. Once maybe when we're out here playing, say, three, four, five years and if we keep battling it out, then there might be rivalries. I don't think there's really any point right now to say anything is really a rivalry. Roll out there, trying to do what we do. Q. Have you dug any deeper into that trend of playing the week before the Major versus not, or do you have any reason why you think that your result has followed that trend that far? PATRICK REED: No, I haven't. I thought it would be a good idea. I knew we needed a little bit of a break in the season, so I figured I would take the two weeks off prior, not playing Bay Hill and not playing Valero. So I didn't want to go three weeks off and then play my first event back being a Major. So, that's kind of how it allowed me to fit in the schedule this year the play here. We've always loved Bay Hill and what Mr. Palmer has done for golf, it's just -- it seemed like every time I play that event, I don't really -- the golf course for some reason doesn't fit my eye as well as I like. It seems to be a place I kind of struggle at. We thought that would be a good time to recharge and go see Augusta. Q. Is there anything this week that you're focusing on or working on for Augusta or has to be worked on at Augusta? PATRICK REED: I'm mainly working on the driver. I flattened my face on one of my drivers about a month and a half ago. We've still been trying to find one. I feel like we found one the other day working with the guys in the van. It looked pretty good yesterday when I played nine holes and looked good today when I played. So that's the main thing, is just trying to find a driver I feel confident and comfortable in and I'll be able turn it off and if I need to hit that bleeder. Q. Patrick, you've taken a little heat for being confident, but you are confident. Any regrets about saying, "Hey, I'm a Top-5 golfer" or that's who you are and take it or leave it? PATRICK REED: Got to believe. I don't regret anything I said. You have to believe -- if you have to -- if you don't believe in yourself, no one else is going to. Q. Patrick, was your game clicking the week of Valspar, and what did you take away from the way you finished and the playoff? PATRICK REED: I hit the ball sideways that week. I think they showed the stat. I was 65th in driving accuracy out of the 71 guys that made the cut. I was hitting the driver sideways. Still searching for one. The driver was going sideways. And because of that, it was changing my golf swing in my irons, starting to hit pull hooks with those. If it wasn't for my short game and just being scrambled like crazy, made a lot of putts and hit a lot of just chip shots that even surprised myself. Wow, you just got that up and down from jail, and that's what kept me in it. Honestly, to start the day I was just thinking to myself, let's try to get to 9 to 9-under for the tournament and probably be a pretty good finish. When I made that putt on the last and I kind of saw the guys not really making many birdies coming down the stretch, maybe you have a chance. I went back to missing greens again and having to get up and down. Q. You posed on a couple ever those irons. PATRICK REED: I had 2 yards farther in the playoff than regulation on 18. In regulation I hit it past the flag. So I hit the same exact shot, thinking you're 2 yards further, be perfect. Buried underneath the lip. Then I hit a really good iron shot, hit a good 3-wood and good iron shot on 16. Good iron shot, caught a flyer, went right over the flag stick. I hit a lot of quality shots, just unfortunately wasn't able to put the pull on the green, have a chance. Q. Patrick, you started your family. Will we ever see Justine back on the bag? PATRICK REED: She'll be back at point. She'll be carrying the bag and so will the baby on the par 3 this year. You'll see her there. Q. You've been talking about how you see a course, how you visualize a course. You haven't had a lot of experience here. Can you talk how this course sets up for you? PATRICK REED: Sets up good. Lot of the holes I can send it out there to the right and hit my draw. The one hole that didn't really fit my eye very well was 18. Both times I tried the play my draw, it didn't draw, ended up in the trap. I'll start it in the water and start it back in the fairway. Hit a pitching wedge in the greens. Besides 18, seems like everything kind of fits my eye, I know exactly what I'm trying to do, what kind of shot. Hopefully I can get that confidence going with the driver going into next week. Q. That's something you have intuitively, not because of a ton of experience here. PATRICK REED: Yeah. A lot of guys, except for a course like Augusta, you have to have a lot of course knowledge. Lot of these golf courses, guys can play it once or twice, guys out here, and they'll be able to figure out exactly what they need to do on where to place a golf ball. And it's all different with each player. Just how they like to play the game. Q. Does this feel like a home game? PATRICK REED: Not really. Maybe come tomorrow when I'm on The First Tee and have everyone out here. Right now not too much. It's been pretty quiet. We're supposed to have weather this afternoon and in the morning. I think that's kind of shied some people away from coming out and watching. But come tournament time, whenever they announce me from Houston and the people are out here, it will probably feel more like I'm at home. Q. How many people in your entourage do you think will come out? Like a hundred people? 50 people? PATRICK REED: I don't know. Good question. I think it's more -- on the weekend, if make it to the weekend, it will be quite a bit. Just all depends on weather. Q. How many ticket requests? PATRICK REED: I think the e-mail is still going off on ticket requests. Right close to say 150 people. Q. That specifically got in touch to say, "I want to come see you play." PATRICK REED: Still getting e-mails. Q. Is there anything you would have done differently? What advice would you give to a first year guy going to the Masters? What did you do wrong or what would you do differently? PATRICK REED: Play with a veteran. Go out and play a golf course and try to just ask guys what they think about this hole, that hole, and that kind of thing. Because I've always been the kind of guy, I like to play practice rounds by myself. I like to map the golf course the way I know how to map things and just the way that makes me comfortable feeling at a golf course. When you go there, it's one of those places that you think you know what you're doing and you're like, "I got a great game plan, this is where I need to put the ball and that." It's totally different on every hole for every pin placement. That front left flag -- No. 1 front left flag, and I was playing with Jordan and Rory the second day. I hit a great drive. It's the hardest tee shot by far, especially being your first Masters. And I finally hit one down the fairway and okay, hit a nice little iron just to the right of the flag pin height. It's the worst spot you can put it. Jordan hits it in the left bunker, hits the bunker shot to a foot. Rory hits it short of the flag just on the front edge. Putt barely breaks. Step over to my putt, you can't play it far enough right. Those were the kind of things that, if I were to go, back I would have played with somebody who has played it quite a bit and had some success and knows what they're doing around that place. DOUG MILNE: All right. Q. Is there a veteran you'll try to play with next week? PATRICK REED: Don't know yet. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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