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ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT SCOTTISH OPEN

July 6, 2016

Patrick Reed

Inverness, Scotland

NEIL AHERN: Patrick, thank you very much for joining us, Scottish Open debut. What are your first impressions so far.

PATRICK REED: I'm just glad to be back. I'm glad to be back over here.

Yesterday was the first time I was able to see the golf course. I saw just a couple holes, not very many, but golf course is in awesome shape. The greens are so pure. Just a little slower because they talk about how windy it can get and I saw a little of that yesterday.

Practising was fine, and all of a sudden I got to the first tee, saw that black cloud rolling in. Next thing you know it starts raining and blowing sideways and dropped ten degrees. Of course, what did I do today? I overdressed because I thought it was going to be cold again and now it's nice and warm.

You have to adapt to it. It's a good test for your all game, not only mentally but physically, and kind of get you ready for next week, as well.

NEIL AHERN: You've bene drawn alongside the home favourite, Russell Knox, so you've got all the Scottish crowds behind you. You must be looking forward to that.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, I played a lot with Russell over in the States. I think it's him and Grace I play with. It will be a fun group and hopefully we can give the crowd a lot of fireworks and some good golf.

Q. You said you've only played a couple of holes of the course. We focus so much on preparation with players and going to different courses for championships, but you're not the only one that's come here and said you've not really played the course as well as you perhaps would have liked. Do we make too much of you guys having to prepare to play a championship, or is it a case that you can pitch up and play the Pro-Am and get yourself ready for the tournament ahead?
PATRICK REED: Well, a lot of the times, we'll see the golf course before the Pro-Am. But I flew in, I left Houston Monday, because I had to go home to see my baby for one night, because if I didn't, that would mean I would be away for five straight weeks, and I didn't want to do that. Mentally it just wouldn't have been good.

So I went home and saw the baby, and I got in here yesterday at like 11.35. I came out here, practised, because I had to stay awake. I went out and played and made it through four holes. And by that time, my coach and I made the smart decision: We'll just walk the rest of the front nine just to look at it. The last thing you want to do is go out and be on your 28th hour staying awake to try to swing a golf club, because I can't sleep on flights. So that does me no good.

Yes, I would love to see the golf course more, but it's one of those things. If you're hitting the ball well and you're putting well, all you have to do is hit the fairway, knock it on the green and give yourself opportunities. But it is a little different, whenever you go from just playing an American golf course where it's all ball and air, everything is soft and everything is fly.

Over here, more with the links style, it's more playing the ball on the ground and knowing the areas that you have to land the golf ball to get the ball close. Those are things you just have to find out and adapt throughout the Pro-Am.

Q. It's your first Scottish Open. Why have you decided to play the event this year?
PATRICK REED: I think the main thing was -- it was always a dream of mine to play on both tours. Playing in The Ryder Cup, and playing over here in the Match Play, I've just come to love this place. Scotland, London, this whole area, I've loved it and I've loved every time I've been over here.

When I had the opportunity late to get into the event, there's no way I was going to pass it up. I wanted to come over and not only play for the fans I have over here but also just play the golf courses. I really enjoy links-style. I think it's awesome. It's just another week that I can come over and play some more good golf.

Q. Having seen Phil and Rickie win the event in recent years, was it a wee bit of your mind-set, that you fancy a bit of that, as well?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, any time you see guys that you play with every week come over and win a golf tournament, it gives you a little bit more confidence coming in. But at the same time, it just kind of depends on the weather and depends how you're playing, because you have to be in form no matter where you're playing or what week it is.

Q. Do you feel that the way you play golf, and you talk about how much you like links golf, you're suited to it and it gives you a good shot, especially next week with the major?
PATRICK REED: I think so, because I love to be creative. I'm not one of those guys that wants to just kind of hit a high, dead-straight golf shot. I see curves; I see different flights of the golf ball.

When I'm at home, I'll play a lot of rounds where it's like, all right, I'll play one ball where I play normal. I'll play another ball where I purposely miss the fairway and I have to purposely miss the green, just to get myself to hit different kinds of golf shots. Go over here and play in these trees and try to figure out how to get to the green.

Just the things I like to do. I like to see shapes. I like to see different windows and different clubs. My coach kind of gets on me on that kind of stuff, because he's like, hey, you don't want to get used to playing out of trees. But I'm like, if I have a bad day where I'm hitting it sideways, I need to know what to do from there. I've always kind of known myself as a kind of scrambler; that if I get into trouble, I feel I can get out of any situation.

Q. Many of the fans this week, they will remember you at The Ryder Cup a couple years ago, and your interactions with the crowd there, you were certainly stirring up a bit. Did you enjoy that when you look back on it now?
PATRICK REED: Oh, I loved it. I'll never forget walking up in the first round to the first tee. All of a sudden I'm hearing all these chants. I've always heard about it but I've never experienced it. And actually hearing the chants and how clever they were. I'm just like, all right, this is going to be fun.

And then all of a sudden they started giving little jabs. I tested the water, gave a couple jabs back, just to see, okay, how are they going to handle this kind of stuff. Any time you gave a jab back, they came back even harder with more. Everyone was laughing, having a good time. It's one of those things that it was one of the best experiences on the golf course I've ever had. You're actually interacting with the crowd and you're having fun, and they are giving it back and having fun.

And then when I shushed the crowd, it seemed like as the day went on they got louder and louder and louder. I thought it made for a great final day.

Q. There's been a lot of talk about golf in the Olympics, guys pulling out, Zika virus. What's your take on that whole scenario?
PATRICK REED: Well, I can't catch Rickie at the end of this week. Mathematically, it's impossible. So our team is set on the four. If one of them happened to pull out, then I will definitely be playing.

Any time I can wear stars and stripes, I do it. I get the call tomorrow, I'll be on the flight. It doesn't matter to me on where it is, when it is. If I can play for my country, I'm going to go play.

Q. A lot of guys are citing whether they are being genuine or not about the possible child defects and birth defects and all that sort of stuff. That's not a concern?
PATRICK REED: Well, it's always a concern, but I've talked to Justine about it. She's an RN. We've discussed at the end of the day, she looked at it the same way; we have our little baby girl, and so we've already started our family. If we pursue to have another child, we're willing to play that event. There are some things that we feel like we might be able to do to be fine in that situation. It's just kind of one of those, I'll say, risk/rewards.

But I've always dreamed about and thought about being able to play for a Gold Medal and now that golf is in the Olympics, if I get that opportunity, I'm going to go for it.

Q. Do you think the guys that have pulled out citing Zika, do you think they are just copping out?
PATRICK REED: No, not at all. It's a very serious situation. I would never question any of those guys. They are pulling out for good reason. It's not just like, oh, you know, what I just don't feel like playing.

I bet you, if there was no question about a Zika virus or anything like that, you would have all the top players in the world playing. They pride themselves in loving their country, as well, and loving the game of golf and wanting to grow the game. It's just unfortunately the first time we get that opportunity, there are a lot of question marks.

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