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THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 23, 2017

Patrick Reed

Old Westbury, New York

MARK WILLIAMS: Like to welcome defending champion of The Northern Trust, Patrick Reed, to a new venue this year, Glen Oaks Club.

Welcome back. What's it feel like coming into the FedExCup Playoffs as the defending champion this year?

PATRICK REED: It feels great. You know, just to kind of come in after some pretty good form and to come into a Playoffs event that I won, even though it's at a different venue, anytime you can be considered defending champion going into an event, you always have that little bit of extra confident. Feel pretty good. Just waiting for tomorrow and can't wait for tomorrow to get started.

MARK WILLIAMS: We've got this magnificent trophy sitting here. I'll just have you comment on it and your thoughts on it and I'll give you a bit of information about it after you look at it and think about The Northern Trust new trophy.

PATRICK REED: First thing I thought was, it's definitely lighter than last year's. Last year was really heavy. Actually when they are up here, that top spins, which seems pretty cool and seems like a fun little thing to kind of spin around if it was sitting in my office.

MARK WILLIAMS: It was designed and built by TIFFANY & CO and was commissioned by the Northern Trust Corporation. It represents an abstract interpretation of an anchor, Northern Trust's brand symbol. It depicts a golf ball going into the hole created by a round, sterling silver disc that sits atop four curved, sterling silver panels.

It's pretty impressive, and I'm sure you'd like to get your hands back on it again this year.

PATRICK REED: I would. It is very impressive. It looks pretty cool. I think it's pretty creative by not only tying in the anchor but also tying in golf into it with the ball and the hole.

Q. Being defending champ, is there part of you that says: Man, I've got to go to a new course; why can't I go to the course I won on last year?
PATRICK REED: You know, of course any time you play a golf course, you've won on, you feel a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more confident. But as I was kind of -- after playing the first couple of events I've played in the past, I've been defending on. If it's at the same venue, you go in there and sometimes you almost go in too confident; as if you're too comfortable with place, you kind of get lazy around the golf course.

So any time you win, if it's a new venue, it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day, whether you know the golf course or you don't, whoever is hitting the ball the best, whoever is putting the best, whoever is making the lowest score is going to win the golf tournament at the end of the day. It just gives you that confidence being defending champion but also gives that you sense of urgency to go out and start playing some good golf and posting numbers because you want to have a good showing to have a chance on Sunday if you're defending.

Q. Just talking about your season, but going back to last year, how encouraging is it to know that you can flip the script, so to speak, so quickly in these events; you could win here this week, and suddenly it went from being a decent season to a great season? Is that the way you kind of look at this?
PATRICK REED: Of course. You have to put yourself into good position going into the Playoffs. So if you have a good run at the Playoffs, you have a chance at the very end. It's one of those things that the TOUR does a good job of making the Playoffs very important. You know, having the points as high as they are, you could have an okay year and just kind of squeak by and if you win one or get hot and maybe win one or two of the Playoff events, you're right there to have a chance to win the FedExCup.

It's one of those live or die situations every week, it seems like.

Q. If you look at the way the season has played out now, if you had to vote right now for Player of the Year, who would you vote for, and why?
PATRICK REED: I'd probably say Justin Thomas. I mean, the guy is playing unbelievably. I played with him at PGA and he looked okay. He didn't look great. Him and I kind of struggled -- he struggled the first round; I struggled the second round. His second round was some pretty solid golf. He just put himself in that position to win a golf tournament, and to kind of flip the script, as you would say, the way he played on the last two days and the way he played in the beginning of the year, to me it's a pretty easy one.

Q. Would anything over the next four weeks change your mind?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, if Dustin were to go and win two or three of them, it would be pretty easy to change that. But to win a major, to play the way he did; he won in Hawaii, both of those. The way he's played this year, it seems like it's his to lose in that situation.

Q. Jordan says he still hears from Tiger from time to time via text when he's at tournaments or a major. I know you didn't know him well before The Ryder Cup last year but have you heard from him more now about your own game now?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, we talk quite a bit. We don't really talk much about golf, you know what I mean. It's kind of one of these things that that's what we do. We always play golf. It's more about how the kids are doing and how he's doing, because at the end of the day, our friendship, both our friendship, because of golf, but our friendship is because of who we are. It's not based off of golf.

Q. Can you just compare this course to Bethpage since you won there and how different will your game have to be compared to how you played at Bethpage?
PATRICK REED: Well, I mean, really, it's kind of the same way as every golf course is: You have to hit the fairway. Especially at Bethpage and here, that's a premium. You have to play out of the short grass. The rough here is to thick, and at Bethpage, it was really thick, as well. It's kind of two golf courses that if you're hitting your driver straight, you're getting the ball in play, you're going to be able to attack the golf course. The greens are receptive enough. They are pure enough that if you hit good putts, they are going in.

If you hit good iron shots, you'll be able to get them really close. The penalizing part around this place is, you know, hitting in that rough. If you're playing out of the rough, you're going to struggle. But if you're out of the short grass, you're going to be able to go out and shoot a number.

Q. When you guys come to a new course like this, does the field open up more because there's not really a track record for anybody here, horses for courses, or is it more just whoever is in form is still leading contender?
PATRICK REED: You know, it's kind of week-to-week, kind of situation. If it's a shorter course and kind of playing to certain points, I would say it would bring everyone in. But if it's a longer golf course, where you know, driver is in hand quite a bit, it's really going to come down to whoever is hitting the ball the best.

All the guys out here can putt, so whoever is putting well is going to be close to the top of the leaderboard. But you know, around a place like this where ball-striking I feel like is pretty much the premium, because if you get yourself off-line and you're playing out of the rough, you just won't have any control whatsoever. It's one of those that, you know, whoever is in form on ball-striking is definitely going to have the upper hand this week.

Q. I know that your coach, Kevin Kirk, is very knowledgeable in physics and science. Do you consider yourself taking something and knowing something to contribute for golf design as Tiger and Bryson are doing right now?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, I would love to get into golf course designing. I've always really enjoyed that kind of thing.

Q. Golf equipment. Like golf ball.
PATRICK REED: Oh, golf equipment. I feel like I tinker around with equipment all the time, and I'm always trying to help my guys try to make some improvements on things I feel like need to get changed and that kind of thing.

But it's one of those things that you know, it's hard to get into actual designing of the clubs and equipment because people are so qualified there in R&D and in the equipment building, you almost have to go get a whole degree and that kind of stuff on that aspect. I'd rather just them design it and I'll test it and tell them what needs to be changed and how it needs to get better and they can go back to the drawing board and figure that out.

Q. I think right now you're ninth in The Presidents Cup standings. How much will that weigh on your mind in the next couple of weeks? Will you be thinking about it at all? Not really?
PATRICK REED: Absolutely not. You know, really, to get up in those standings, to be inside the Top-10, the way you do that is by playing some good golf. If you're out there trying to think about where you need to be for Presidents Cup or where you need to be for Ryder Cup and where you need to be for FedExCup and those kind of things, you're taking away from what you're trying to do and that's to go out and win a golf tournament. If you go out and win a golf tournament and play some good golf, that all takes care of itself. A lot of those rankings and stuff, I don't really focus on, because it's just, really, if you just play some good golf, it takes care of it.

Q. In some sports, players won't touch a trophy because they are afraid they might not win it and you've already touched it; so can I assume you're not really worried about it?
PATRICK REED: I've not touched it. The guy who had the white gloves came in before and was cleaning it touched it. I'm not touching it, no. You can touch it. The guy two rows behind you can touch it (Rory McIlroy on-deck for his press conference) (laughter).

MARK WILLIAMS: Maybe you can touch it again Sunday night.

PATRICK REED: Only way I'm touching it is on Sunday night.

MARK WILLIAMS: Thanks, Patrick.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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