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OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016: GOLF

August 12, 2016

Patrick Reed

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Q. How do you feel about your play today?
PATRICK REED: I felt a lot better. I just need to make some putts. I missed four putts today inside of 12 feet that I could have made, really made today a good day.
It played hard this morning. I felt like it played harder today than it did yesterday, and yesterday played a little difficult. I'm not used to hitting driver, 4‑iron into almost every hole. I hit driver, 4‑iron into 2. 3 yesterday was basically drivable; you hit it to the front edge of the green. Today I hit a good drive and had a hundred yards. 3 is normally an 8‑iron, maybe 7‑iron, and I hit 5‑iron today, right at the flag short in the bunker, and the pin is 20‑something on.
Then 12, I hit driver. Well, first you go to 7, which was yesterday a driver, pitching wedge, and today I hit driver, 4‑iron. Then you turn around and you get to hole 11 and you're going, all right, well, I'll just hit driver down the fairway and should hit an iron shot on the green. So all three of us hit driver down the middle and you could probably put a blanket over our golf balls where we were, right dead smack center.
So I hit 5‑wood, because I don't have 3‑wood, so I hit 5‑wood missed the green, plugged in the front bunker. Grillo hit 3‑wood and one‑hopped it into that bunker. Sergio was the only one to actually get to the green in two, hitting 3‑wood right on the front edge.
The golf course played really tough and I felt like it started to get a little easier once we got to about midway, probably about midway through 13 to 14 is when the sun started coming out and started getting really warm, really quickly. But besides that, it was tough.

Q. Did you guys get together at all just to talk about what happened yesterday?
PATRICK REED: Not really. When we look at it, it's a marathon. It's 72 holes. So after the first day, yeah, we didn't get off to the great start. But if we go out and play some good golf, we can climb that board pretty quickly. Really today, I had a chance, even with how tough it was playing this morning. If I was make those four putts, two of them were inside eight, and the other one was like six feet. If I make those putts, instead of looking at 1‑under for the tournament, you're sitting at 4 or 5. That makes a huge difference.
I felt like I did something a lot better today by hitting the ball well. I just need to make a couple of those putts.

Q. Did you guys get together at all last night?
PATRICK REED: I didn't. I think we all just kind of did our own thing. I was one of the first tee times off, so when I got back to the room‑‑ the guys ran over, got Domino's, and we just ate pizza in the room and rested. I know a couple of the other guys were kind of laying low. Just go grab and a quick bite and kind of hanging out.

Q. Was there a sense that you wanted to make things happen? You were pushing quite hard.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, going into today, I was just kind of trying to judge off how it was yesterday. In the morning, you can post a number because the wind was down a little bit. The only thing I saw today, when I checked the weather, which was right before I left, there was only a 25 chance of rain going to ten percent.
Well, I said that to the guys on the first see, Sergio and Grillo. We all just kind of laughed and go, I think right now, it was about 100 percent. It was coming down and wasn't stopping. The first eight holes, I don't think it really let up at all. Umbrellas, extra towels. Then it stopped raining on 8 and 9. It started sprinkling on 10. Started raining again on 11. But by 12, it stopped raining midway through 12, and then by that point, you know, the last bit of clouds kind of went away and started getting warm.
It was just kind of one of those things that when you get these tough conditions, you want to go out and post as low a number as you can, but at the same time, it's difficult, because you're hitting a lot longer club into the greens.

Q. Do you still feel like it's a marathon?
PATRICK REED: Not anymore. If I would have shot 5‑ or 6‑under par today, I would felt like, all right, you have 36 holes. But now I have to go out and do something special for 36. At least I felt like I'm trending in the right direction. Thursday I hit it so bad. I would have lob‑wedge in my hand and was hoping to hit the green. And all of a sudden today, I hit the ball normal, hitting every fairway, hitting greens, I think I missed three greens, maybe four, but two of those I was putting from just off.
When you're doing that, you're able to go out and attack and I felt like I was able to kind of be in attack mode today. It's hard to attack more when it's raining and you hit 4‑iron to the green. And I still hit two of those inside 50 feet, which I made one of them, and I missed the other.

Q. Do you feel better during your range sessions?
PATRICK REED: Well, yesterday after I got done playing, I went to the range. I went out and had my wife there and Kess and we worked on some things on my swing. Felt like I started to hit the ball a little better. When I got here this morning, felt like I was hitting the ball, I would say decent, but wouldn't say I was hitting it great.
But at the same time, I'm not a guy that's going to step on the range and hit the ball perfect. I'm one of these guys that if I step on range, I'm trying to loosen up and get ready for the day. I'm a gamer. I'm not a guy that goes on the range and worries so much about how I'm hitting the ball on the range. I use the range to loosen up.

Q. Do you feel like you got the bad side of the draw?
PATRICK REED: Depending what the wind does this afternoon, but doesn't look like it's going to be that bad. I would say we probably got the harder draw. Yesterday afternoon, later in the round, the wind was howling. I mean, it was ridiculous. You're hitting a normal lob‑wedge, goes a hundred yards. I'll all‑out hit it as hard as I can a hundred yards and I was hitting it 130, 131 yesterday afternoon.
Today this morning, because it was raining, because it was wet, because it was cold, there was no sun; I mean, the ball was going nowhere. Absolutely murdered a drive today on 7 here, and I'm thinking, all right, well yesterday, I had pitching wedge. I'm thinking, well today with the conditions, I'll have 8‑iron, 7‑iron in my hand. It's so good. I get up there, look at my yardage, i look at the book and I go, "Kess, we have 222, where is the wind?"
"It's just a little down and off the left, but it's raining." I absolutely flushed a 4‑iron, never left the flagstick and ended up landing just over that bunker and went to six feet, seven feet but unfortunately I missed the putt. You know, it played a lot longer and it played tough. So it's just one of those things, especially with how long it's playing, these bunkers are so penalising because everything buries. You know, it's hard to avoid when you hit 4‑irons and 5‑irons into greens.

Q. What do you know about the course now that you didn't know yesterday?
PATRICK REED: That you have to make birdies. It's the kind of golf course that you have to get off to a fast start. The front nine is gettable. But then on the back nine, you have 10, which is a par 5, but today, there's no chance of reaching it. And then that 11, 12, 13, 14 stretch, you need to hold on, and if you actually can play that stretch under par, you're going to kill the field. But you know, it gives you a chance coming down the end. Just 15, you can be aggressive and have a wedge in your hand, if you hit driver, and 16, 17, 18 are all pretty basic, easy holes, especially the way the wind was today.

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