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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 13, 2017

Patrick Reed

Charlotte, North Carolina

Q. Can you talk about your round and especially the way you started, the opening nine?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, well, really the opening nine was a tiring one. To hit a great drive on No. 1 and to miss the green and to get up-and-down for par; to feel like I hit some pretty solid shots on 2 and walk off with bogey; and then to kind of go on my run where I birdied 3, almost holed out; and made a hole-in-one on 4 and tapped in for birdie.

And then to bogey 5, birdie 6, birdie 7, it's kind of one of those rounds, that front nine, where it's just kind of up-and-down the whole day.

You know, the end of the day, there's just too many missed putts today. A lot of putts burned edges and really the biggest thing is Friday.

To only hit five greens in 18 holes and to somehow only hit one green through 12 holes and be 1-over par, I mean, that's -- I was scrambling like crazy. I was making a lot of great up-and-downs, but it's hard to win a golf tournament, especially a major, if you only hit five greens in one day.

Q. Do you view this as something you can build on, being in contention and coming down the stretch in the final round of a major?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, for sure. What I was most impressed with was it didn't feel any different. You know, I was just out there trying to make as many birdies as possible. My coach and I, Coach preached all day, and last night: Tomorrow's Monday. So treat today as if it's a Monday qualifier, you. Have to go out and shoot the lowest round.

I felt like I went out there, I made enough birdies, but I had too many bogeys. I had too many good opportunities for birdies, and a really good opportunity on 10 or for eagle and just burned edges rather than making putts. Just kind of one of those things, I felt like my speed was great today. Felt like I was reading putts really well. Just the ball was millimeters off.

You know, to be as far back as I was coming in today, to win a golf tournament, you have to make every one of them. You can't sit there and you can't miss putts. Even if they are 30-footers, if you're that far back to win, you have to make all of them.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to do that, and that's why I'm sitting here disappointed rather than sitting here and really having a chance to win.

Q. How much were you checking the leaderboard on the back nine?
PATRICK REED: Oh, I was always checking it. I'm a leaderboard watcher. Thursday before I even tee off, I'm seeing what guys are doing, where everyone's at. It wasn't anything ever different. I think the biggest thing was it seemed like when I got on a mini-run and made a couple birdies, after I made my first birdie, yeah, I might have closed the gap.

But then if I went and made another birdie, I'd look at the board and hear another roar and Justin is making a birdie. Just kind of one of those where I got myself too far behind because of Friday and just couldn't claw back enough. I could claw back to get a finish but not where I wanted to be.

Q. How good were those two long two putts you made on 16 and 17?
PATRICK REED: You know, the putt on 16 was great. That one had a ton of break in it. Going up that ridge, basically up a side-ridge and then down and breaking hard right, continuing, and to be able to judge the speed and get a putt that almost looked like it had a chance to go in was awesome.

On 17, I feel like I hit a perfect putt. I was right on the spine, where if I got just a fraction left, it actually could go left; if I got it a fraction right, it would go hard right.

And fortunately I got just left, ended up four and a half, five feet left, which is not where I wanted to but it was perfect speed. Those were huge. Really I felt like I played 18 great. I finally hit a drive that looked like it had a chance to go in the fairway. I thought it might if it had a normal bounce with a draw. Unfortunately it kicked right.

But you know, from there, I hit a perfect 8-iron from out of the bunker and that's the max club I could to get over the lip. I cleared that lip by maybe five inches, and I knew the best I could do is get it maybe front edge to just short.

But from there, with how grainy the greens are, up those two huge slopes with a pin that's 33 on, it was too far to putt, yet it was one of those distances where I couldn't run anything, either.

So I tried to fly it up there and I thought I flew it where I needed to and just grabbed so hard. That was probably the first putt that I miss -- well, 17, 18, are probably the two putts I misread pretty bad.

Q. How long was the last one on 18?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it was probably 12, 15 feet, something like that. When I was reading it, I read it, it has to go left. The green book that I used when I checked it, it said it had to go left. Kessler's eyes saw it go left and I hit that putt out a cup out on the right and it did not move an inch.

Unfortunately I just didn't get it close enough. I didn't hit the fairway and from that point, I was playing from behind. You know, really the biggest thing to look back on is got to make a couple more putts, even though I feel like I putted pretty well this week. Got to make some more putts.

And you can't have rounds like I did on Friday. You can't have such a good short game on a day where you miss every green -- and 2-over -- if anyone would have said, yeah, you're going to miss one green through 12 and you're going to have two bogeys and a birdie, and after that, you're going to hit a total of five greens, shoot 2-over; people are going to be like, well, that's an awesome round in a major. It's a great scrambling round. At the end of the day, that's what kills you from not winning a golf tournament.

Q. Given your other success, are you surprised that this is really the first time you've been in the mix in one of the big ones, one of the majors?
PATRICK REED: Yes and no. My first two years at the majors, I was putting too much pressure on myself. I was making them way bigger than they needed to be. They are still golf tournaments. There's still 72 holes. You've got to go out and play some good golf.

At the end of the day, what I loved to see was when I got in contention today, when I went on that run to get myself actually in the golf tournament, being two back at one point, I didn't feel any different. I didn't feel any pressure. I hit the exact -- the exact iron shot, the exact 5-wood I wanted on 15, hit the exact tee shot I wanted on 16.

16 on the iron shot, I've been fighting that pull-hook all week. So I decided instead of trying to hit something soft, which really goes left for me right now, I tried to gear up on a 7 and didn't have enough on it.

Yeah, it was probably five yards too far left but really it was eight yards short. If it was farther than that and if it was five yards right, actually it would have fed towards the hole. But that was nice to see.

And then stepping up on 17 and feeling like I was stepping up and hitting an off-speed 6-iron and hitting it right where I'm looking, is always nice. Of course you want to get closer but at the same time you can't get too aggressive going to that flag when you have water left and also your misses are left this week. I played the smart, sensible shots all day. I didn't get ahead of myself. That's key. That's kind of what I take from this week.

Q. That pitch on 18, was that into the grain?
PATRICK REED: Oh, yeah. It was into the grain. The whole green was into the grain. I had to fly it up, all the way up top, and you know, I hit it perfect. I thought I hit it exactly where I needed to.

I mean, it flew just on top of the ridges and that I thought if it landed up top, there would be a skip and kind of a little bit of a release. I'm 35 yards, I didn't think it was going to bite that hard. And so you know, yeah, I'm disappointed to walk off with five on last but I really feel I executed the golf shots I needed to execute. That's all you can do is execute and hope they come out the best.

Q. Any consolation you'll qualify the Presidents Cup team now?
PATRICK REED: That's great but at the end of the day, of course I want to make the team and I want to make the team on my number. I don't want to have to try to rely on a pick. But really, I don't worry about Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup standings because really at the end of the day, if you go out and play some good golf and you win a golf tournament, and you keep getting yourself in contention, you won't have to worry about that.

This year's kind of been, kind of the moral of the story of today: Very frustrating; a lot of good things going on, but falling just a little short.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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