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THE BARCLAYS

August 26, 2016

Patrick Reed

Farmingdale, New York

DOUG MILNE: Like to welcome Patrick Reed to the interview room here at The Barclays. Thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Off to a good start, 66, 68, making your fourth start here in The Barclays. You've already collected one Top-10 finish in the event.

With all that said, I'll just turn it over to you for a few comments on how you feel through 36 holes.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, anytime you're at the top of the leaderboard, you feel good. I left some shots out there today, especially late in the round. It was just something I'm going to have to go back and fix a little bit. Just kind of make sure I stick to my game plan.

Q. You got off to an awfully hot start. Is that symbolic of the attitude that you have and the aggressive approach you're taking this week, and the momentum from the first round?
PATRICK REED: I mean, I don't really think it's as much an aggressive approach as it is that front side, compared to starting on the back, you start on a par 4 on No. 1 where if you hit a good drive, you have sand wedge in your hand; unlike starting on 10, you hit driver, 4-iron.

The golf course seems to -- once you start on 1, it's right out there for the taking and once you get off to that start, then the back nine, it's kind of, all right, let's try to hit center of greens and see if we can roll in a couple long putts because there aren't many opportunities on that back side.

Q. Do you feel like your season is incomplete if you don't win a tournament?
PATRICK REED: No. It's golf. You have guys that are going to win in years and you're going to have guys that aren't going to win in years. I think this year has been a lot better than last year and the previous years on consistency. That's a big part that I've been working on is to make sure I keep myself into golf tournaments. Not go out and win an event here, and then miss two or three cuts and finish 50th, 40th.

It's about consistency: Consistently getting in contention, consistently having chances to win. If I keep doing that, I will at some point break through and win hopefully a couple in a row, not just one.

Q. What aspect of your game have you worked on to increase that consistency, and what do you think has kept you from winning this year? Is there any particular aspect of your game that's kept you there?
PATRICK REED: I've worked on all aspects of the game, because, you know, to win golf tournaments, everything has to be good that week. It just seems like these events I finish Top-10s, it's either one round here or there, or it's three or four parts of my game are working on the first day; then three of the four are working the next day. It's just kind of a mixture.

It's not just one thing that I can pinpoint. There are some days I go out and I have 23 putts, and there's other days I go out and have 33 putts. There's some days I go out and hit 14 fairways and other days I hit two. It's just kind of inconsistent through all of it clicking at the same time.

I feel like this week, it's more on game plan, and I feel like my game plan has been pretty solid and just kind of plotting my way around this golf course and giving myself a lot of looks.

Q. Would it mean more to solidify your spot on The Ryder Cup by winning or having a strong finish this weekend, as opposed to just kind of squeaking in as the eighth guy?
PATRICK REED: Really I'm going into this week trying to win a golf tournament. At the end of the day, if I go and I take care of me and do what I need to do this week, then Ryder Cup will take care of itself.

So I'm not going into this week looking at it as, oh, I need to do this for The Ryder Cup. I'm going in this to think, all right, I need to go win a golf tournament, and everything else will take care of itself.

Q. When you look at your strategy on 18, hitting driver off the tee --
PATRICK REED: Stupid decision. Felt like I was hitting driver pretty solid towards the end and I had down and off the right, which is perfect wind for me. I'd ask Kessler, "What do you think, 3-iron or driver off this tee, because 3-iron will leave me short."

He said, "What will 3-iron leave you in?"

"165, 170."

He is like, "Well, what would driver leave you."

I was like, "About a hundred yards."

And he goes, "Well, you've been hitting your driver pretty solid, so let's go ahead and hit driver." I tugged it two yards left and tugging it just a little bit there, it's going to grab the wind and ended up in that left bunker, and it's that one spot you can't put it. With downwind there, you can hit 3-iron off the tee and have 9-iron, pitching wedge in your hand.

That mental mistake and then a mental mistake on 8 are my two mental mistakes where I went away from my game plan, cost me two shots. So I just need to get back to playing on the game plan. I did it perfectly for 18 holes yesterday. I'm sticking to my game plan and didn't have a blemish on the card. Today I had two mental mistakes where I went away from the game plan and both of them ended up bogeying. My other bogey was just a poor first putt.

Q. Was there a little tendency to get maybe slightly greedy there at 18 because you had the three-shot cushion at that point and you could really possibly stretch it?
PATRICK REED: Not really. When I was looking at it, I felt like I hit a great drive. I hit a really good drive on 12, 13, 15, 16. So four drives in a row that I hit right down the line I was looking.

So I'm sitting here thinking: All right, well, you have perfect wind, down off the right 18, hit driver, start at the right edge of the fairway and just let it draw to the middle.

I was kind of confident in my swing and how I was feeling, so I was like, all right, this is a time that I could be aggressive. Because if that holes turns into the wind, I can hit driver all day and be fine. If it's downwind and off the right, I know better than to hit driver on that hole, and kind of suckered me into it.

Q. I know it's a lot quieter than it is for a major, but what was the energy like playing out there with Phil today?
PATRICK REED: They were loud. They were getting rowdy as the day was going on, and it was fun. It was good. Especially with playing well. It was just kind of one of those things that I was able to feed off energy from the crowd and kind of run with it.

Q. What are the keys to stay on top the next couple days for you?
PATRICK REED: Just continue doing what I'm doing. Just hit fairways and greens and make a couple putts.

Q. Did you think that one was going in on 17?
PATRICK REED: The iron shot? Well, right when I hit it, I knew it was going to be really good. I had no clue, because we can't see really anything but I knew it was a perfect club and perfect distance. I thought with where I was going, I thought it was going to be five, six feet. I didn't think it was going to be a foot and seven inches.

But I knew it had a really good chance when all of a sudden you have a hundred people behind the green that are all sitting down, and all of them stand up; I was like, Oohhh, okay.

Q. Ryder Cup is in play, FedExCup. Do you get extra motivation from these situations where you really just need to bring your best game against the best players?
PATRICK REED: It's just like a major. You go into these Playoff events, they are so important because there are 2,500 points for a FedExCup. You win a major, you get, I think it's 600. So you know at this point, you have four events, you have to play some really good golf.

I feel like I've been trending in the right direction. I feel like the game's been solid. I just need to get it all clicking.

I would say yesterday it probably clicked better than yesterday but today my iron play was solid. Seemed like whether I was in the rough or in the fairway, I had complete control over my golf ball. The only thing is, just can't put yourself in these fairway bunkers, because it's almost impossible to get it over the lips to some of the greens.

Q. This tournament is played on a couple other well-established and respected courses, but what does it mean to play here on a U.S. Open site, even though it's not set up quite like U.S. Open conditions?
PATRICK REED: Well, today, it seemed like it was getting closer to the conditions of a U.S. Open. The rough is real thick. The greens this afternoon got really crusty and got firm and a little bumpy there towards the end.

Anytime you can come and play some good golf on a course that's had a major, you know that you're playing really well. All I have to do is continue playing some solid golf and hopefully at the end of the week, hold the trophy.

DOUG MILNE: I have to ask, now that we're about three days removed, are you amazed by the Tuesday and the gavel -- is that still --

PATRICK REED: Hammer time.

DOUG MILNE: -- is that still off the charts in terms of the response you're getting?

PATRICK REED: It was awesome. It was so funny and it was so fun being there and being a part of. When the gentleman looked at me and goes: "All right, give it three good whacks."

I was like, "All right."

He's like, "Don't just go over there and tap it. They need to be able to hear it."

All right. I didn't even feel like I hit it that hard and next thing you know, the head kind of popped up, and it was like, uh-oh. It was awesome. I don't think even 30 minutes after it happened, they had ProTracer on it. It was pretty cool.

DOUG MILNE: Thanks for your time. Best of luck on the weekend.

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