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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLF

August 11, 2016

Patrick Reed

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Q. How do you feel like you played today?
PATRICK REED: Horrendous. I hit the ball really bad. I didn't putt very well. Really the only thing in the very beginning, I feel like I chipped the ball decent in the beginning. Had a good up‑and‑down on 1, a good one on 2. I drove it just short of the green on 3. Had a good chip.
Besides chipping, I feel like the rest of the game was just awful. I mean, I couldn't have hit the ball worse and couldn't putt worse.

Q. Not that we can go with a Bubba Watson answer, which is, it's golf‑‑ or we can go with, do you have another idea why today is like it was?
PATRICK REED: You know, putting, for me, it just seemed like I worked really hard the past couple days to get the speed, especially yesterday, because I knew today was going to be windy. When I got out there morning, I feel like my speed was pretty good on the putting green, and when I got to the first hole, I only had like a 3‑footer, or my second one, a 4‑footer.
But when I had my first one of actual length outside of 15 feet, it seemed like the greens were a good two to three feet faster than the practice green. I blew so many putts by and made a handful of comebackers from five or six feet; after that point of blowing a lot by, I started leaving them short. My speed was off, so I have to go work on that a little bit.
And ball‑striking, it just‑‑ I was trying to kind of pinpoint what it was. But just seemed like everything was missing right, which at least the good thing is I only had a one‑way miss. At least I wasn't hitting it both ways, which is consistently right. So I'll go to the range and figure out how to hit into the wind, not just straight right‑to‑left and try to fix that.

Q. Did you eventually start aiming that way, knowing you were going to miss it?
PATRICK REED: No. Because I did it on one tee shot and that one tee shot I hit, I actually released it and hit a tight little draw and ended up left.
You know, it was hard out there. The wind was howling once we started playing. It just seemed just a tad off and especially on holes that had left‑to‑right winds, being a drawer of the golf ball, if you kind of hang one out there all right, and it doesn't turn, it's going.
Just kind of seemed to be that way majority of the day, and you know, the good thing is at least I felt like I hit it a little better coming in. Hit a good wedge shot on 15. Felt like I played 16 pretty well. Made birdie. Hit a good iron shot on 17. Just it's hard to hit a 61‑degree from 120. So I hit a soft 57 and hit it 20 feet past but right over the flagstick.
Hit two quality shots here on 18. Thought I hit a good putt but just burned the edge. Seemed to turn around towards the end and just need to keep it going.

Q. Obviously the village is different, the field is different, what you're wearing is different. But out there playing, does it feel like a different tournament? Is there anything Olympian out there about it when you have a club in your hand and you're walking from tee to green?
PATRICK REED: You see all of the symbols around, so I would say that makes it have the feeling. But it's a little too early. It's Thursday. Come Saturday and Sunday, when it comes down to later in the day and the crowds get a little bit more, I would say larger and more electrifying, then it will start feeling more like the Olympics.
But today, today was tough. Today was, everyone's head was down, trying to focus on where the wind is and what the golf ball is doing, because it was really windy. When you get conditions like this, anything in the surroundings kind of disappears because you're so zoned in and trying to focus in on what you're trying to do. Today it just felt like a grind out there.

Q. Did you see any wildlife out there today?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, you. (Laughter) No, a bunch of birds today. Was it the capybara? We didn't see any of those today. I saw two of those yesterday. It was surprising to see them in the nasty weather. But I didn't see them today.
Actually I did see some wildlife. I saw a little owl outside the bunker on 9. I saw the nest but I haven't seen one yet. That was pretty cool. The thing was only probably a foot. It was like that big. It was so cool. Because it was actually looking the other direction, and as I walked by, it turned its head completely around to look at me‑‑ and I was just like, that's cool, because I had never seen one before.

Q. Rickie said when you guys were in that press conference earlier this week, that to sweep the podium, you have four guys.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, we're doing good on that, huh.

Q. My question is: The way things are going, would it be good to just have somebody on the podium?
PATRICK REED: No. We all want to be on the podium. I know Kuch shot 2‑under because I saw the board right now, but I don't know where all the other guys are finishing or where they played.
I feel like if I go out and play three really quality golf rounds, because really, on Tuesday and Wednesday, I hit the ball pretty well. I felt like my game was right where it needed to be. It just happened to be today on the really windy day, I was kind of hanging out to the right. So if I get the ball‑striking back and I figure out the speed just a little bit, I mean, I'll make some putts out here. There's a lot of birdies out here.
There's still time. That's the one thing about this sport and the Olympics is you have 72 holes of golf. It's not a spring; it's a marathon. If we post some low numbers, we might be able to climb up that board. At this point, being over par, depends on what that 8‑under does.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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