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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 19, 2015

Patrick Reed

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASHINGTON

Q. You played three championship rounds on this golf course. Why are you so comfortable and so good on this particular course?
PATRICK REED: Well, I think this week I'm hitting my tee shots pretty solid. I feel very confident with the driver. I feel like I'm swinging as hard as I want to and it's going to be on the fairway. When you can play on the fairway you have chances. And this afternoon it got really firm and really fast, so if you didn't hit the fairways you were struggling to hold the greens. And I was able to keep my ball in the fairway.

Q. Were you feeling that comfortable five years ago when you were here as an amateur?
PATRICK REED: Five years ago I swung as hard as I possibly could probably, knowing me. That's something I've tried to gear back on is getting the ball more in play. And this driver that I have, I have a lot of confidence in it. I feel like I can just keep swinging harder and harder and know where it's going to go.

Q. Were you pleased with the round and the end on 18?
PATRICK REED: No, not at all. I actually felt it was a pretty disappointing round. To have five or six bogeys, didn't get up and down once, I was zero percent on up-and-downs today. I hit the ball in the middle of the green on 18 and have no chance to putt a normal putt and stop near the hole, and have to play Mickey Mouse golf to try to make par, unfortunately is a bad way to end the day. But we're in a good position and we hopefully can have a good weekend and have a chance to win.

Q. This is shaping up to be a horse race?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's definitely going to be a tournament that anyone has a chance to win. If a guy gets hot and shoots 7- , 8-under par, who knows what he's going to do with the scoreboard. That's how it is at every U.S. Open. It seems like until 72nd hole is done, it's anybody's game. And I just have to go in and take it hole by hole, shot by shot, and hopefully at the end have a shot.

Q. Your thoughts on playing the third round of the U.S. Open with Jordan Spieth, your Ryder Cup partner?
PATRICK REED: It's going to be fun. Anytime I play with Jordan I enjoy it. The main thing for me is to stay focused and focus on what I need to do to play some good golf. And plot my way around this golf course, especially if it gets firmer and faster and knowing where to leave the golf ball.

Q. What did you learn about Jordan during the Ryder Cup that you hadn't known about him before?
PATRICK REED: Nothing. I knew he was a great player before. So it didn't surprise me that he went over and played really well over there with me. I didn't really learn anything different from him.

Q. You're going out on a Saturday one of the leaders. Is there some consolation to the fact that you did not play your best golf and still be in this position?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, you know, if you were to tell me last week I'll give you a share of the lead, I would have taken it, for sure. But I felt like I hit the ball a lot better than I did today. There were some loose golf shots, making a bogey -- I felt like I had a really good iron shot. There were too many bogeys. I need to clean that up. Now I feel like I'll go make a birdie and then give it right away. You can't do that here. If I didn't do that, I would have a four- or five-shot lead. But we're in a good position.

Q. Did you feel you had an advantage this week having played here before in the 2010 Amateur and doing so well?
PATRICK REED: Well, five years ago I was probably only hitting the ball out of my shadow. I honestly didn't think I had any kind of advantage or anything from playing it five years ago, the only thing I knew is kind of what to expect on the firmness, the fast pace of the golf course, that's about it. When I got back out here I kind of remembered some of the lines and all of that. But they can move tee boxes around so much. And they can firm this place up a ton, they can soften it, they can do so many different things, they're always going to keep you guessing. The main thing is you have to be able to know where you want to land each shot. I feel like we're doing that pretty well, I just need to execute a little better.

Q. The bogeys, because you were attacking and making a few mistakes or were they the conditions?
PATRICK REED: One of them was a bad tee shot on 7. You can't hit it in the rough there because the green is so firm and elevated. I hit it in the rough and hit it over the green, made bogey. And 9 was a poor iron shot short of the green, made bogey. 10 was I thought a really good iron shot and it landed right in the lip of the bunker and made bogey. Then 14 was another solid iron shot that ended up going just over the green, didn't get it up and down. And 15 was a bad swing with a 51degree. You can hit it 30 feet left and be fine. And I flailed it a little right and set it down the slope of the bunker. When you short side yourself and the greens are this firm, there's no chance to stop it. And the last hole I felt like I hit two quality golf shots and had to play Mickey Mouse on the green because the pin was ridiculous.

Q. What would you feel about a par-418 on the final round?
PATRICK REED: It doesn't matter to me if it's a par-4 or par 5, but just put it a halfway decent pin for a par-4.

Q. Henrik Stenson was very upset with the way the course was playing, like putting on broccoli. Would you kind of agree with that assessment?
PATRICK REED: They started to get really firm this afternoon. Which they would have gotten really firm yesterday afternoon if the sun came out. That's one thing I remember throughout the practice rounds, in the afternoon it got really firm. And today with the sun coming out, the wind blowing, they got really hard. It's what you expect. But they're a little bumpy today, but I felt like if you hit some solid putts, you had probably 90, 95 percent chance to go in. 10 or 5 percent of them might have hopped and maybe catch a lip and lip out. It just all depended on each hole and each shot. If you had to putt defensive because you're putting downhill the whole time, you just never know. It's definitely a challenge, and hopefully it will smooth out a little for tomorrow.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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