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THE BARCLAYS

August 28, 2016

Patrick Reed

Farmingdale, New York

ALEX URBAN: We'd like to welcome the champion of The Barclays 2016, Patrick Reed, here into the media center. Patrick, you moved to No. 1 in the FedExCup with your win. Talk about your win today. Obviously it was a bit of a dogfight there on the back nine. Just talk about that and where you stand right now.

PATRICK REED: I feel great. Any time you can come from behind on Sunday to win a golf tournament, means you must be doing something right.

I felt real comfortable all day. Felt like I hit the ball real solid, especially the first half to three quarters of the round. As the pressure started building there coming down 15, really 14, I just had a couple loose iron shots, a couple loose tee shots, that kind of cost me.

You know, to build yourself a lead to come down the last couple was huge, especially around a place like this, because those last holes are just so difficult.

Q. Can you just describe, given how wobbly things got there, how big that putt was at 17 to save that par, and not have a one-shot lead at 18.
PATRICK REED: Oh, it was huge. You know, really, through 13 holes, even the drive on 13, it missed the fairway by a yard. I felt like I actually hit a really good drive. Even on 14, I wasn't going to go at the flag if I had the lead. I hit it where I needed to.

15, I missed my drive by two yards left of where I wanted to and hit a good iron shot there, but playing out of the rough, there's no way you can hold that bottom tier.

So I really felt like I only had two poor shots coming into the stretch and that was the drive on 16 and then the drive on 18. Besides that, I felt real comfortable. Felt like I was playing really well. I hit a perfect putt there on 16 that lipped-out.

And coming up 17, I had the same-length putt and Kessler goes, "I don't care what you see on this, just make it. Put it in the hole."

I hit it right down my line again, and this one, instead of lipping out, it lipped in for me. Going into 18 with a two-shot lead is so much easier than going into 18 with a one-shot lead because if you go into 18 with a two-shot lead, really, as long as you don't hit it out-of-bounds, the odds of you being able to make five are definitely in your favor.

Whenever I saw my tee shot buried in the lip, I was like, if you just get it out, you'll have at worst, 9-iron, hit it in the middle of the green and 2-putt from there to get it done.

Q. You've contended throughout the season, but how much does a win change the tone of your year or how you view it?
PATRICK REED: You know, it just kind of shows how hard I worked all year and how we've kind of set a game plan on how to improve on my golf game, because I felt like I've played really well all year. Just haven't quite had that breakthrough W like today.

But you know, it was interesting, as you look through the other events, I have three out of four rounds that are pretty good and pretty solid, and then I have one round that puts me through or four out of the lead. I talked about this yesterday; yesterday was my bad round. And I went from ahead by two, only down by one. It wasn't like I had to go out and shoot 62 like I have had to do in other events.

So with having my poor round be closer to the lead, it eased my nerves a lot, especially coming on to the first nine, because I knew I was playing really well, and I already had my bad round out of the way, so I can go ahead and free it up and play some good golf.

Q. As you've turned yourself into a very consistent player, how have you kept from getting frustrated for not winning over the last, what, 20 months? Or have you been frustrated and you just haven't shown it?
PATRICK REED: It's been frustrating. We all enter these golf tournaments to win golf tournaments. We're not showing up just to make cuts and slide by. Everyone that's playing golf tournaments are trying to go out and win the thing.

You know, it's been real frustrating, because I can easily just pinpoint through almost every event a three-hole or a nine-hole or a couple shots here or there that cost me, instead of finishing 10th or seventh or fifth into a W.

Even this week, when I was talking to Kessler -- on hole 7 right after I birdied, I looked at him said: We should have birdied 1 because the putt lipped out. We should have birdied 2 because that putt lipped out. We should have parred 3 because we 3-putted. I was like, we should have eagled 4. We chipped in for birdie on 5 and I birdied 7.

I'm sitting there going, we should be 6-under par at this point and we're sitting here at 2. And he goes, "I don't care. He goes, that's behind us." He's like, "Let's just keep hitting some good golf shots."

You know, it was kind of creeping back in, just kind of going through my mind on events earlier this year that I had these kind of stretches that I should have been at a lot lower number than I was. To kind of get over that hump and put the pedal down and make a great save on 9; and then to make a good save on 11 when Rickie bogeyed on 11.

And then to birdie 12, I felt like at that stretch right there, just kind of set the tone for me and just kind of let me run with it does get back into the winner's circle.

Q. And secondly, you've talked about going back into old habits, but I'm curious when you're in a tight battle pretty much all day and all of a sudden you're 3-up with three to go and Rickie is in big trouble on 16, did that at all, I don't want to say relax you, but maybe cause you to play differently than you might have if you had a one-shot lead or like you played most of the day?
PATRICK REED: Definitely changed how I played 16. 16, after I hit my drive left and I was in the native area, it was a really nasty lie, a lot of grass around it. I knew to get it close and get it on the green was probably an 8-iron. But I was worried that it borderline might not have been able to get over the tree.

So I was like, well, let's just hit 9-iron and kind of hit it a little right, just barely in the right side of the green because that's the shortest part in the tree, even though I knew there was zero chance that ball was going to get to the green.

Really, if it was a one-shot lead going into 16, I would have hit the club that would have gotten me to the green and probably taken a more aggressive line, especially after hitting the 9-iron and seeing how high it went; I could have covered the tree with a 6-iron.

I would say that was probably the only difference on that hole, was 16. Then when I bogeyed 16 and I looked at the leaderboard and I had a two-shot lead, I knew I had to play some good golf.

Q. Two days ago, you sat in here and said you weren't going to worry about The Ryder Cup because winning would take care of everything. Now that you've won, does it feel better to make your way on to the team with a victory?
PATRICK REED: Oh, for sure, any time, anything that comes with a win always makes you feel better. Justine, our whole team, we kept on telling ourselves, because everyone's been talking about The Ryder Cup and been talking about, oh, you're in the 8th spot and you're on the bubble and all that.

Coming into the week, we said: Well, you know, what go ahead and do what you can do and get the job done. If you go and win it takes care of everything else: Gets you into the Tournament of Champions, gets you into Ryder Cup, gets you to lead FedEx. It takes care of everything.

That was the main goal coming into this week was find a game plan on this golf course for me to shoot the lowest number I possibly could. Throughout the first two days it was spot on. I had the lead. And then going into yesterday, I felt like the game plan was there. I just felt like I didn't make any putts. I still was in striking distance. I was only one back coming into today.

There was a couple times when I was out there and I was like, well, maybe we can go ahead and do this and we're like, no, stick to what you've written down and what the game plan is, because that's what's worked. We stuck with it and it just shows, being patient will definitely give you the rewards. I was very patient this week, and I mean, that's why I'm sitting here.

Q. You referenced working with your coach hard the last couple weeks. Who is your coach, and did you also work on your putting with Dave Stockton, Jr. this week?
PATRICK REED: Yes. I'm actually worked with Dave Stockton senior in the past since Firestone. We've worked really hard on it. Junior was coming out this week. I felt like I wasn't quite making the putts I should have, and I felt like I was hitting the putts, kind of where I wanted to, but the ball just wasn't going in.

So when he was able to kind of reassure that my stroke was looking great and just see the putt, knock it in, it kind of gave me that confidence. Because once he kind of started looking at it, I started making some more putts, it just kind of freed up and allowed me to run with it.

Q. Just back to The Ryder Cup thing a little bit. Was there a day, or with whom did you have that conversation about -- was it with Kessler about just getting it done and taking care of business, to get The Ryder Cup thing out of the way, like when did that come up or in your mind --
PATRICK REED: That's been something that Kessler, Justine, my whole team, we've been talking about is Top-10'ing is great. Top-10'ing is great for making a living. But at the end of the day, every time we play golf tournaments, we don't settle for Top 10s. We're going out there to try to get a W and try to get hardware and try to get a trophy.

Because at the end of the day, a bunch of Top 10s, it's great. But it's going to make you be on that bubble, as you saw. I've had, it feels like a hundred Top 10s this year, and I've just kind of stayed there on that six, seven, eight, nine stretch, on The Ryder Cup, and it takes something like a win to be able to solidify yourself.

It's something that we've always -- every week we come into, it's always like, all right, what do we need to do to win this golf tournament.

Q. Just as a follow on that. Having played The Ryder Cup before, now that -- you've had a very emotional experience with that and showed a lot of your personality that a lot of people that didn't know you that didn't know about. Now that you're in there, can you just discuss how important it really was for you to get in there, how much it was driving you, as kind of a -- you know, as a side goal?
PATRICK REED: It was very important. I want sweet revenge just like our whole team does. There's nothing like playing for your country and representing the United States. You know, being able to do it for the first time overseas at The Ryder Cup was just amazing. It was so much fun.

And then being able to do it at The Presidents Cup down in South Korea, that was awesome, as well. And then being able to go down to Rio and play in the Olympics, it was a blast.

So now, I finally get to play for the United States in the United States and I cannot wait to see how the fans are, and just have the whole crowd on our side this time. It's going to be so much fun. I know we're going to work so hard to keep that cup back home.

Q. You and Rickie out there all day for the tournament and The Ryder Cup spot. Did you get a chance to say anything to him at the end before it all came apart for him?
PATRICK REED: He just told me, he was like, "Hey," he goes, "I'm going to go get my work done," and he was like, "I'll see you in Minnesota."

I said, "I know you will be."

He's playing some good golf. He was a little loose today but he's playing some solid golf, and really at the end of the day, what takes care of all of it is some good play. So if he goes out and plays well these next couple of events, Captain will see that and he'll be able to make those decisions.

We're also playing well and hopefully I can keep on feeding off this going into next week and go chase another win.

Q. As you leave, what's your impressions of the course and the crowd?
PATRICK REED: The crowds are crazy. They are awesome. You don't get to go to golf tournaments very often and have crowds literally come up with chants. The only time I've heard chants before was at Gleneagles.

You know, to step up on the first tee, and there's chants going from when you start until you finish, it's just awesome. You can feed off of all the energy that's going on. Then all of a sudden, if people start to heckle you, then you can start trying to prove them wrong.

So it kind of goes both ways. And the fans here were great. They were loud. It was a lot of fun. It felt like you were almost playing football, especially now that football has just started. It kind of just sets the tone.

Q. Speaking of home games for The Ryder Cup, if this was kind of your signature move in Scotland, what do you have planned for Minnesota?
PATRICK REED: I can't tell you.

Q. Sure you can.
PATRICK REED: No, I can't. Why? If I tell you, then it won't be a surprise.

Q. What about a system we have where two guys in the Top-10 in the world don't qualify for a team. Does something sound -- okay with that? Wrong with it? Any thoughts?
PATRICK REED: What it comes down to is it comes down to whatever the United States committee what they decide and what the task force decides.

Really when you look at it, like I was saying earlier, if you go on Top-10 every week, it's not going to get the job done. You'll be that seventh, eighth, ninth spot. I would know, coming into this week; I Top-10'ed every week and I was in eighth and I had J.B. Holmes that was, what, 30 points behind me, 30,000, if that.

The main thing with how it's set up is you have to go and you have to play well in the big events and you have to go win golf tournaments. If you win golf tournaments, you'll take care of yourself.

Q. Two guys with no pressure went out early this morning, tied the course record. A lot of people were going low. You felt should you have been lower on the front nine. Are you amazed at how this course changes so dramatically from morning to afternoon and really showed its teeth late?
PATRICK REED: You know, I think the biggest thing is, the difference between our morning round and afternoon round on Thursday, Friday, in the morning, the greens are a lot more receptive. So you can kind of really attack at the flags. Any golf course you play, in the morning, the greens are going to be more true than in the afternoon, because not as many people are walking on it. That's the main difference.

But it just seemed like as the week was going on, the greens were getting firmer, faster, a little more bumpy. It was tough. You could hit it in there to 15 feet and think you have a pretty straightforward putt, and you hit it, and if it hits something, you could have four feet coming back.

Today I noticed the biggest difference, they started getting that sheen on them, where if you had those downhill putts, they were just really glassy and the ball just kind of kept on trickling.

It's just kind of one of these places that you have to be patient because you're going to have some wedge shots you hit into greens thinking you're going to have to birdie this hole. But when you have that pin placement, you only can leave yourself above the hole. That was just the keys, staying patient all week, and even though if I'm hitting 4-iron in there, hit an uphill putt and have a chance to roll in.

Q. With your five wins, what's the difference, or how would you stack Barclays against the WGC at Doral, and why?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest difference between the two was I've been in this position before, so my nerve the were kind of in check and I'm playing with a guy like Rickie, who I grew up playing golf with. I mean, we were talking about back when we were in junior golf when we were playing events and talking about other events that we were playing as we were walking down the fairways, it was like, do you remember when we used to do this, do that. So the comfort level was there.

And the difference between -- probably the biggest difference between this week and that week was I had another guy on black and red in the group in front of me, and you know, any time you're kind of staring down Tiger Woods who is in the group in front of you, you kind of have to sit there, take a deep breath and swallow, and hope that you go out and play some good golf, because he, just as good as anybody, can get on a run.

For me to be able to go wire-to-wire that week and to be able to close out how I did on the back nine with him right in front meant a lot, and it just kind of gave me a little bit more confidence in myself that I can go out and do this consistently. To finally close one off this week was huge for us, because it's been a while since I won one.

I felt like I've been so close with losing at Valero to Charley Hoffman, to losing to Jordan in a playoff at the Valspar, and then in China, where I felt like I had that tournament in my hand and just kind of let it slip away by losing in a playoff there for a birdie. It was just kind of like one of those things; it's like, all right, what do I need to do to get over this hump.

Really kind of seemed like instead of pushing so hard to try to get the win, it's just go back to that one word, patience: Sit back. This is your game plan. Just go with it. It will work. I tried to get away from it a couple times today and Kessler, I told him at the start of the day, "I don't care what's going on, do not allow me to go away from this."

Every time I tried to, he's like, "No." He's like, "This is what we're going to do. This is our game plan." Just by sticking with it, it definitely paid off.

ALEX URBAN: Congratulations on winning The Barclays 2016.

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