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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

June 15, 2017

Patrick Reed

Erin, Wisconsin

Q. Any surprise at the scores today or did it seem soft and scorable?
PATRICK REED: It depends. I played here a couple of days earlier this week, last week, and they had some rain and it was a little softer. And just all depends on where they put the tee boxes.

This morning there was really not that much rain, so you could go out and get a score early. And that's kind of what a lot of scores did. A lot of guys made birdies early in their rounds, and then as the wind came up there were a bunch of pars. If the wind blows, it's going to be challenging no matter where they put the tees.

Q. Was it unusual in the morning of the first round of a U.S. Open to know that you can take an aggressive mindset and not just make pars?
PATRICK REED: Not really. Every time I stepped on the tee, I tried to play really aggressive. For me it's more of a challenge not playing aggressive, because there's a lot of times I want to go down the most aggressive line I can. Go for every flag.

And around a place like this, even though it's soft you can attack a little bit more. But at the end of the day if you go right at the flag, you miss it a yard one way or another, you could end up in a spot that's hard to recover from.

Q. Do you think with the new courses they ease you guys into it, to avoid the controversy the first round?
PATRICK REED: Possibly. I think the biggest thing is they want to place to play firm and fast. It's a little harder to get firm and fast. The more sunny days we have like this, it's going to get firmer and faster as the week goes on. You can't start Thursday having them as firm and fast as you want, by Sunday the golf course would be unplayable. It's going to be tough, but we all expect that.

Q. What do you like about your game? What did you do well?
PATRICK REED: I kept the ball in play. I hit 13 out of 14 fairways. The one I missed was on 7. And it was barely in the rough. The par 5 didn't really affect you.

I think that's the key around here, especially early on when there's not that much wind. If you hit the fairways, you can attack. And also when you're attacking, you're allowed to have a lot easier putts, and I think that was the key.

I stuck to my game plan today. The two bogeys I had today I really didn't feel like I hit bad golf shots. I feel like I hit them pretty solid. One was a misjudge on the wind and the other was 5-iron that went 250 yards.

Q. How many drivers did you hit?
PATRICK REED: A lot. (Laughter).

Geez, I hit driver on every hole except 15.

Q. Have you ever done that at a U.S. Open before?
PATRICK REED: Hit it 13 of 14 fairways? I think I was pretty close at Chambers. It's hard to know how many you've hit with just driver, et cetera. But it's one thing about this golf course, it's generous off the tee. You have some room left-to-right to go ahead and hit driver. But it's one of those if you barely miss the fairway, you're struggling just to make par. You're most likely going to have a third shot that's over 100 yards.

Q. Did you see the blimp go down?
PATRICK REED: I didn't, but I heard about it. I was actually on No. 1. I hit my second shot, a 3-wood, I was kind of watching my shot. And then I hear the guys talking and I was just like, what are they talking about? I was watching it feed on the front part of the green and then I looked to the left and I saw this big thing of smoke. I had no idea. Luckily we heard that no one was inside. So that's good.

Q. He parachuted out.
PATRICK REED: He did?

Q. What was your best shot today?
PATRICK REED: 13, the par-3.

Q. What did you hit there?
PATRICK REED: Nice solid 6-iron. It was perfect, I was just watching it, kind of went up the slope and thought it was going to be really good, because it wasn't really moving that fast. When I got up there, it was not even a foot short of the hole.

Q. We all know how patriotic you are when you get to the Ryder Cup. Is this championship perhaps the one that will match that emotion in your mind, in the way you approach it?
PATRICK REED: It would. A lot of times being an American, it means a lot. Really right now it's just go out and play as well as I can, and hopefully late Sunday I'm up there playing good golf.

Q. Did you think today you played as well as you could have?
PATRICK REED: I felt like I should have been a couple of shots here and there. But any time you take 68 on the first round of a major, no matter what major it is, how easy or how hard the course is, it's good.

Q. Did you think the shot on 13 was going i?
PATRICK REED: When I saw the ground, I did. But then this golf course does a really good job of deception. You think the ball is close and it's 20 feet. I knew it was a perfect line, I was tracking the hole. I thought it was just going to be really close. But all of a sudden I saw the stands all stand up and then they all jumped, and then they went, Oh. It had to have at least touched the hole. And they told me it hit the flag and it stopped short.

Q. How much have you analyzed your major championship performances and maybe approached them differently?
PATRICK REED: The first year I definitely put too much pressure on myself in majors. I went out and thought I had to play well. The past couple of years just kind of go out and play golf. It's just another golf tournament.

I think that's been the key, especially this week. I played Tuesday and Wednesday last week. I just flew over here, played two rounds. And since I've been here, it's been light practices. Played nine holes on Monday, played 12 actually yesterday. And didn't play any Tuesday, just kind of practiced.

Q. If you (inaudible) on Sunday, or just wait and (inaudible)?
PATRICK REED: I don't know, we'll have to see.

Q. Do you like the course?
PATRICK REED: It's a great golf course. You know, I think it's one of those that can definitely hold majors. It's a golf course -- that's the thing, when the wind blows here they can set this thing up really hard.

When I was here last week I played the back plate of the back tee box on every hole. I asked how long is it, it's 8155 from the back plates. So I played from there and there was maybe two mile an hour wind. It was 70 degrees. It was a perfect day. And I've never had so many 3-woods, 2-irons and 4-irons into the green. It was just soft.

Q. Is the way that you performed under pressure at the Ryder Cup, especially that dual with Rory, do you see that translating into the pressure of major championships?
PATRICK REED: I haven't had an opportunity to be late in a major on Sunday in a major yet, so it's kind of hard to say. It definitely helps other golf tournaments I've played coming down the stretch or other golf tournaments coming down where I need a birdie to make a cut or something like that. It's definitely something it doesn't really rattle you as much. It doesn't give you butterflies. You still have to go out and play golf. I feel like I'm right there.

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