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VALERO TEXAS OPEN

April 20, 2017

Patrick Reed

San Antonio, Texas

Q. We were talking before we came on, talking about this new wedge and not quite comfortable with it. I thought pretty solid round of golf. If you bogeyed the first two holes of the day and shot under you probably be a little happier than you are now.
PATRICK REED: For sure. Yeah, it's a fresh wedge and the one I was using before just -- it wasn't having any bite on it, too many shots that would ride on the face and kind of non-react how I wanted to.

So, I love my new wedge. I'm able to actually hit the normal shots and get it to check and trickle out. It's just, you know, under the gun first time using it there's a couple shots out there that even though I only had two bogies I made some putts to kind of save chips that should have been perfect ended up four, five feet, six feet away. The game feels good. Need to keep on plugging along and make some more birdies.

Q. This might be a weird question. I was really surprised to see how much mud was on golf balls today off the tee. Was it kind of surprising to you or the case yesterday in the Pro-Am?
PATRICK REED: Yesterday morning I had to get quite a bit but I was shocked since it didn't rain and had a full day kind of sunshine yesterday, I didn't expect to have very much and had some guessing games out there on a couple shots.

But, you know, really I didn't really feel like it affected me too much. The only one I really felt like I had to alter was the last shot on the last hole.

Q. We know this course can dry out and probably will by tomorrow afternoon. You have a little bit of it taken care of today.
PATRICK REED: For sure. Anytime you come out here you start out shooting in the 60s in any tournament you start at, you got to be happy. But I need to take positives from today and kind of forget the last three holes because really only felt like I missed the one golf shot and walked off 2-over par on the last one.

Q. 10, 11-under par is a good score for the week every year here. You got three of them. That's what you need to do.
PATRICK REED: Yes, sir.

Q. You went on a great run there to start the front-9. Tell me about just this round and the ups and downs there.
PATRICK REED: The round was solid, yeah, through the first five holes. Even though I was even par I felt like I didn't miss a golf shot, had full control, was hitting the ball exactly where I wanted to, just couple putts here and there that just burnt edges and didn't go in, and you know, when you have that kind of confidence you feel like you're hitting your lines, at some point they're going to fall and start making some birdies.

To make a good putt there on 15 to kind of get started and just couple -- keep on hitting some more quality golf shots and leave myself a lot of opportunities.

It also helps to get on a run of four in a row on the back-9. I still felt like through the first 7 1/2 holes I felt like I didn't miss a golf shot and I was even par on that side because couple of misjudgments and an iron shot that seemed to release and a chip that seemed to check a little more than expected on 7.

The game feels good, feels really solid and really steady. Just need to continue building on the good things today and hopefully go out tomorrow and play a bogey-free and shoot 5, 6-under par.

Q. Obviously not the finish you would have wanted but you got to be pretty happy with the round as a whole and finishing the round at the place that you are right now.
PATRICK REED: Oh yeah, for sure. Of course, no guy coming off is going to be happy bogeying two of the last three. To shoot in the 60s, especially on the 1st Round is always nice no matter where you're playing. It doesn't really matter how easy or how hard the golf course is. If you go shoot in the 60s on your 1st Round you did your job.

Really, the best thing about today I felt like is I didn't miss a putt on a line. I hit all my lines, felt like my speed was great except for the last hole and, you know, really when I did mishit a golf shot it was in play, it was playable, it wasn't very far off. I had a pretty good opportunity to make par.

Q. Patrick, 3-under in the opening round. What would you say was the best rating you give yourself with a little bit of trouble on 7 and 8?
PATRICK REED: Yeah. Before 7, I probably -- I'd give it an A-. I felt really solid, felt like I hit the ball really well. Felt like I putted great.

I missed a couple here and there but the good thing about it was they weren't pulled or pushed, it was just more of kind of using my eyes on kind of reads than anything.

I felt in complete control. When I mishit a shot I was still in pretty good position where it was almost pretty easy up and down.

But I still didn't feel like I mishit a golf shot on 7. Walked off with bogey. And on 8 just one little mental mistake I'm going for the green, you know, you can't hit it right, have to blow it left and I kind of hung that one to the right, gave myself a very challenging up and down and, unfortunately, made bogey there.

But all in all, it was a really solid day. Lot better than it's been so far this year. I felt coming into this week that I got the equipment where I needed to and felt like the game was going in the right direction.

My wife and I drew a line after last event and said all right, first quarter is over, let's go and get started and this is a great way to start. Felt like I finally had control of the golf ball, had control of what I was trying to do and that's all I can ask for.

Q. You've been talking about fighting equipment and tinkering with things. Where exactly are you going to be a hundred percent when it comes to being comfortable with that?
PATRICK REED: Well, I mean right now I feel like 13 clubs in my golf bag are exactly where they need to be, very comfortable, feel like I can do whatever I need to with them.

The only thing is the reason why I don't say 14 because the new wedge I put in this week I'm very comfortable with it, I love the way it reacts in the bunker and full swings, on short swings and chips around the greens. I just need to get used to that that I can actually fly it a little farther because it actually does spin.

Just one of those things I have to get used to and the only way I'm going to get used to that is getting it underneath the gun and play in tournaments.

To go out today I felt I would say one chip on 7 that I thought I hit perfectly, landed in the right spot and 7 feet short because it grabbed on me.

Besides that, I feel like we are where we need to be. I just need to continue playing some good golf and build on the positives, not the negatives.

Q. This place, you know what the wind can do and how the conditions can affect your round. What were they like today?
PATRICK REED: They're getable. The wind wasn't blowing too bad. The fairways and greens were soft. The ball was pretty easy to control. The only thing is there's still a little bit of mud getting on the golf balls. A little surprising.

I saw it a little bit yesterday morning. I thought with how the weather was yesterday by today it should be gone but the good thing, I only had one, two mud balls which I was able to kind of control and really the two mud balls I had were actually two of my better shots of the day. I didn't mind it. That was probably the only surprise of it. As the sun is out like it is now, it will bake out and get warmer and firmer and faster as the week goes on.

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