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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 15, 2018

Patrick Reed

Orlando, Florida

Q. Really impressive opening round 68 from Patrick Reed. What do you take away from this as positives?
PATRICK REED: I hit the ball well, even when I look back at the holes that I made my bogeys on I hit it good. I hit a bad drive on 18 but I feel I hit a good iron shot out of the rough. Very rarely do you hit 7-iron that go 135 yards. So that was there, but after that I hit it good. I felt like I had a decent iron shot on 1 out of a divot. Unfortunately it came up short. Just kind of one of those things that I feel like I hit the ball pretty solid and I feel like I putted well, it's just a couple strokes here and there. But besides that any time you come around this place with eight birdies you got to be doing something right.

Q. (No Microphone.)
PATRICK REED: Really the biggest thing is to get myself in position where -- I finally feel like halfway through Mexico, when I got to Saturday morning I really felt like I was really getting comfortable with what I had in the bag, what we were doing. Besides my 17th hole in Mexico where I made triple -- I actually hit a flag stick there -- besides doing that, that was a good week. And then coming into last week I felt like I was hitting the ball well, so just continued to hit the ball solid today and around this place you have to hit fairways and greens and hit it as close as you can.

Q. Great start. How nice as well to continue the momentum from last week into this?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, I feel like I was hitting the ball pretty solid last week and to come in today and just continue doing what I was doing last week, hit the ball in the fairway, hit a lot of quality, good iron shots and rolling in some putts when I needed to make some. It just kind of feels good to finally feel like I got my golf bag set. I got the clubs that I feel real comfortable with, golf ball and everything feels like it's working. And to be this confident and comfortable going into this stretch leading up to Augusta and Match Play it feels good.

Q. How nice was it to feel the intensity last week, to put yourself in the mix in the hunt for a title?
PATRICK REED: It felt great, finally getting back to where I feel like I belong, that's contending on Sundays. Feel like last week was awesome and there was a lot of cheers going on, just because, not only was Tiger playing on Sunday, but he was playing late on a Sunday. Just to hear those roars just gets your blood flowing. To play the kind of golf that I was playing down the stretch and basically all through that round, it felt great. Just kind of carried over to this week.

Q. How close do you feel?
PATRICK REED: I feel really close. I feel like I was pretty close a couple times last year and I felt like last week was, I let one kind of slip away, but really I feel like I'm playing some solid golf and the biggest thing this year was making sure I got the clubs and everything kind of set and I'm comfortable with it. You can always hit it on the range and test it and things will be great, but I feel like I finally got it set halfway through Mexico and from that point on I feel like I've been hitting the ball well, been playing well and just trying to build more and more confidence leading up to Augusta.

Q. Great closing finish, a couple of birdies to finish up the round. Very strong play today.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it felt solid. It was just kind of one of those days that I knew I had to get off to a decent start because even though it's a really cold morning, it means the greens are more receptive and you know the wind's going to be down a little bit. So just kind of come out, kind of feel like I have control of my ball off the tee and also into the greens and get that flat stick rolling. The greens that are so pure like this you're going to be able to rack up a lot of birdies and I was able to do that today.

Q. This event has such positive energy around it for obvious reasons. For you, what is it like to be a part of this field and apart of this event and playing at Bay Hill?
PATRICK REED: It's a special event. To be able to come and pay respects to the King and to come out and play golf at, not only a great venue, but also the people around here, the people that are helping inside the lodge and outside, on the golf course, are fun, they're just unbelievable. To get as good conditions as this golf course always is every year, the greens are perfect, I mean they're so true, rough's always thick and the fairways are always nice. So it's kind of one of those places that you always want to come and get invited because you come and play some good golf and know everything's going to be first class.

Q. Some comments on your opening round, please.
PATRICK REED: Just steady. It's something you have to do when you come out to Bay Hill is you have to get off to a good start, you have to play really solid early on and you feel like you have control and confidence with the driver and the irons into the green and just be able to get out to a hot start and get a couple under par and move on.

Q. Can you talk about the playing in that group. Obviously you said the key is to get out to a good start, but obviously Justin starts out 4-over through six I think and pulls it back. What's it like seeing all those birdies come in from everywhere?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's comforting, honestly. Justin got off to a rough start, but to be able to bounce back and to make all the birdies towards the end, kind of the birdies throughout that back half of the golf course, it just allowed Bubba and I to feel very confident oncoming down towards the end that, hey, hit a quality golf shot you're going to make putts, you're going to make birdies. And I think that is also attribute to how pure these greens are. These greens are absolutely perfect. So if you have 15, 20 foot birdie putt, if you hit your line, that ball's going right where it's supposed to be going. So with that being said, you start hitting the ball pretty solid, you can get some close wedges into greens, you're going to capitalize. Once one guy starts making a putt it just seemed to kind of domino affect throughout the group. Bubba started making some and Justin started making some and then also I started making some again and just kind of seemed to just fall in place for all of us.

Q. Now that you've had four days since last Sunday, what's the biggest take away from last week?
PATRICK REED: I think biggest thing is it was the first event I've played this year where I really felt comfortable that the golf bag was set. I have everything in the golf bag that I really like, that I feel like is really comforting to play with and I have confidence in. And that being said, I hit the ball well last week, I didn't feel like I made as many putts as I should have, but with that being said, any time you get your self in contention coming down the stretch it's always fun. I just wish I either hit an iron shot a little harder on 18 or decided to chip it from off the green the first time rather than putting it from off the green. But it was a good week and really just tried to carry it over to this week, hit the ball as well as I did and get the putter going like I did today.

Q. Two weeks in a row you're in the hunt with Tiger. Do you enjoy that kind of thing? Does it bring out the best in you?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, I mean I love being on top when Tiger's around, because obviously it means that he's playing well, which is good not only for the tournament but also good for golf, but also just the electricity that goes around the entire place when he's playing well, just seems to kind of elevate. For some reason it just kind of gets me going and hopefully I can continue playing some solid golf and see him late on Sunday.

Q. How much would you like to be in a group with him this weekend?
PATRICK REED: That would be awesome. I would love to be in a group late on Sunday with him so I can wear red and black again and then we'll just kind of have a battle to see who plays best.

Q. Is it as much a shock to you, players, guys who play with him as it is to all of us on the outside to see him doing what he's doing the last couple of weeks?
PATRICK REED: I'm not shocked. It's Tiger Woods. He hit the ball, I played with him Monday for nine holes at Hero and he hit the ball so well there and it looked so effortless and fluid that I didn't see any pain. It looked like he was able to do everything he needed to do and so from that point he just needed to get some reps. Well the way you're going to get reps is by playing golf tournaments or practicing as much at home, you could definitely tell he's been able to put in the work and that's what he's doing.

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