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MASTERS TOURNAMENTApril 8, 2018Patrick ReedAugusta, Georgia MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, my pleasure to welcome Patrick Reed, our 2018 Masters Champion. Patrick, how does the pink and green combination suit you? PATRICK REED: It works. You know, with Nike kind of on the story line of having the azalea colors towards the end of the week, it seemed great out there. You know, just kind of one of those things that going out and playing on such great, green grass and having all those beautiful flowers and azaleas around seemed fitting. And to be able to go out and play, play a steady round, and just didn't get really too high or too low. It was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be. MODERATOR: Your fifth time, your fifth appearance at the Masters, and you had never broken 70 until Thursday. You broke 70 three days in a row. What was difference this year? PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing was just, of course, I felt like the game was in a little better shape coming in, but just the experiences from in the past. I knew the golf course a little better. I had a little more experience around the course this year coming in. Really, my mind‑set going in was stick to my game plan, play golf, and, you know, I stuck to my game plan all week. Even today, I didn't stray from it at all throughout the entire day. You know, it's something that I needed to learn, especially at a place like this, how important it is to stick to what I believe and how I feel like I need to play the golf course. You know, with it, it gave me the reward of winning my first green jacket. MODERATOR: Congratulations. Questions, please. Q. Were you leaderboard watching? Did you know how big the putt was on 17? PATRICK REED: I did. I always, always watch leaderboards, no matter what event it is, whether it's the first hole on Thursday or the last hole on Sunday. For some reason, my eyes are‑‑ I always want to know where I stand. So yes, I saw Jordan and Rickie just storm up those leaderboards and go up. I knew when I birdied 14, was about the same time that Jordan bogeyed the last. That point, I knew as long as there wasn't just any catastrophic implosions coming in, that was going to be basically between Rickie and I. To hear that roar on the last, even though I knew Jon was in the group, I just knew it had to be Rickie, because, you know, to win your first major is never going to be easy. It definitely wasn't easy today. I knew it was going to be a dogfight. It's just a way of God basically saying, let's see if you have it. Everyone knows you have it physically with the talent, but do you have it mentally; can you handle the ups and downs throughout the round. I felt like that putt I made on 17, and to basically keep my 1‑up lead going into the last, and to have that iron shot not come down the hill on 18, knowing that it's probably the fastest putt on the golf course, is just another one of those many tests that I had to try to get over in order to win my first major. Q. Rory had a chance to tie you on the second hole. Jordan actually caught you at one point. Rickie posted a number. How important was it for you every time one of those guys challenged you to maintain at least a share of that lead and not let it sort of get over your head? PATRICK REED: It was huge. Especially mainly with Rickie and with Rory, because Rickie was only the group in front of me and Rory was playing with me. So I knew if Jordan made some birdies, he was far enough ahead that when he kind of went on his run, I was basically on hole 9. And when he birdied, I think he birdied 12 and 13, when he birdied‑‑ well, yeah, he birdied 12 and 13. When he did that, it was kind of one of those things that I knew I had those holes coming up, and as long as I could keep it at least tied with him, that he would run out of holes and I would have more birdie opportunities coming in. But the way those guys played towards the end, when Jordan shoots a 64 today and Rickie goes and shoots 67; having to go shoot under par on my final round of your first major to win, it was hard. You know, it was awesome and satisfying to make the clutch putts I did on the back nine. After feeling like I wasn't really making anything all day, to make that one on 12 for birdie seemed to kind of give me that momentum and just really that belief going into the last couple that no matter what they throw at me, I can do this and have a chance. Q. How big was the putt on 3, not only for the scorecard but for your emotions after the somewhat shaky start, and how far would that have gone by if it didn't hit the hole? PATRICK REED: Probably still be rolling. It was moving. (Laughter). You know, it was important. I felt like‑‑ of course, it was a poor bunker shot on 1, but to be able to hit a pretty good lag down that hill, being how fast it is, kind of settled in my nerves. I felt like I didn't miss a golf shot on 2, and I just misjudged the distance on the second shot. I mean, it needed to fly three yards farther, it lands on the green and it goes all the way back to the hole. Unfortunately, I knew long there is no fun, so I went for the aggressive play that if it's perfect, it's right next to the hole; worst‑case scenario, I'm short. I really felt besides the tee shot on 1 and the bunker shot on 1, I felt like I was actually hitting the ball okay. I didn't feel like it was that bad. I've hit that putt before and I know it's a lot faster than it looks on 3, and I played just a little less break, and luckily the hole got in the way because it was going. But, you know, I needed that. I needed a putt like that to go in, to get back to not only even par for the tournament but to see a birdie go in early felt was huge for the momentum early on. After that, I felt like ball‑striking was where it needed to be, and made the putts and was just able to kind of ride the ship coming in. Q. Given Jordan was nine strokes behind you at the start of the day, how impressed were you with his round and how cool is it having bragging rights over him, especially after beating him in Austin two weeks ago? PATRICK REED: Austin is Austin, but at the same time we both have a green jacket. I knew somebody was going to make a run at me from‑‑ besides the last two or three groups. I knew someone else was going to go post a number early. Did I think they were going to post that type of number? No. But just to see kind of how he was playing and see every time I looked at a board, they always threw up a number and it seemed to always get closer and closer to me; it was kind of nerve‑wracking. I was kind of glad he ran out of holes. You know, just kind of one of those things that you expect that, and being your first‑‑ trying to go win your first major, you know that people are going to make runs and it's not going to be easy. You're going to have to go out and play a good round of golf and shoot under par. I felt like I played 11 as smart as I possibly could with hitting the drive into the trees. I probably would have said two years ago, I would have tried to hit that slice 4‑iron around the trees and start it in the pond and try to get it back to the green. But this time around, I was smarter. I was just like, lay up and worst‑case scenario you're going to make bogey. I felt like I kind of got robbed on that putt. Then to hit a good iron shot on 12 and make that birdie right there to get that one right back, I felt that right there was when the turning point was, because that putt was huge. And then to hit a quality iron shot on 14, those were basically the two points in my round that I thought, you know, this is going to be my week. Q. As you're growing up as a young man and dreaming your goals, I wanted to ask you, if this was the first major you dreamt of, or did you win somewhere else in your dreams? And second is, was this Sunday final round different from everything else that you played in your life? PATRICK REED: Definitely growing up, everyone always dreamed about winning Augusta, winning the Masters. So to answer your question, yes. Every time you think about it as a kid growing up, it's always, you know, this putt is to win a green jacket; this putt's to win the Masters. I think that's just because of the history and everything that's gone on here at Augusta National and how special it is to all the golfers and special it is to just golf in general around the world. And, you know, today was definitely probably the hardest mentally a round of golf could possibly be. At The Ryder Cup, it's just a totally different type of pressure. You go to a Ryder Cup and you feel like you have a whole nation on your back. You know, if you win or lose your match, you still have a bunch of other guys there that could pick it up. You know, when I step up here, I was going in with a Sunday lead, listening to all the analysts this morning when I was watching golf, and every single one of them picked Rory except me besides for Notah‑‑ thanks, Notah. Appreciate it. You're my boy (laughter). It's just kind of one of those things that seemed like the pressure at that point was kind of lifted off. No one expects me to go out and win. I expect myself to go out and win. My family and I believe that we need to go out there and I can win the golf tournament. Seemed like everyone else was saying how great I was playing all week, how very impressed they were, but come Saturday night and Sunday morning, they are like, oh, well, even though we said all these great things about how he's playing, we think Rory's going to win. You know, going into that, it just felt like, okay, well, that takes off a little bit of that pressure off of me and I can just go out and try to play golf. That kind of fit into the motto that I was trying to do all week, just go out and play golf. It's definitely harder to do that than I thought. It was actually easier throughout the first probably six or seven holes, but then once I birdied 7 and then I missed the putt for birdie on 8, then I'm walking off 9 tee box and look over the scoreboard and Jordan is 2 away from me at that point, and I'm sitting there going, okay, now it's really getting tight. That's when you started to think about, well, what ifs. My caddie, Kessler, he did such an awesome job this week, and especially today, of keeping me in it. When I birdied 14, he looks at me‑‑ I wanted to go for it on 15 because I had a tiny little window. He's like, "No, we have the lead. Chip it down there. Let's try to make birdie with your wedge. Worst‑case scenario we'll make par." And when I made par and on 15, and Jordan finished at 13 and Rickie was at 13 at that point, he just looked at me and said, "Hey, it doesn't matter. Don't look at that board. It doesn't matter. It all comes down to us." He's like, "Go out and play golf. If you do what we do, we'll win this golf tournament. Let's go do it." Of course it didn't help that Rickie birdied the last to get it to one shot, but I kept reminding myself and he kept reminding me, "Just go do you. Go play golf." And I was able to get through it mentally and put together a solid 71. Q. Can you talk briefly about the second shot at 13, and did you know right away that it stayed up, or did it disappear from sight? Was there any concern? PATRICK REED: There was concern because I saw it and we were watching it. Yeah, it was just a poorly executed iron shot. I thought I hit a perfect drive and had only what I thought was a little off 7‑iron, about 90, 85 percent, and Kessler wanted me to hit it full just to make sure you take water short out of play. But I was worried about if I hit it full, it might go long. That was probably the only golf swing I had probably in the past two days that I wasn't really committed to. There's still some thought going on in my head before I hit it, and I hit about an inch behind it, caught it a little heavy. I knew when it landed, at worst‑case scenario, it's just going to roll back and it's going to be in the hazard or on the sand. As long as it doesn't get to that corner and that turn, the ball won't find the water. It will actually stay on the sand. I was lucky to watch it kind of plug in the bank and stay in the grass. I was fortunate enough for it to stay up, and I felt like I had the same exact kind of swing I had to hit on 14 from a hanging lie, and to be able to pull that one off and hit it exactly how I wanted to gave me the confidence going into the rest of the round. Q. Many former Masters Champions have talked about how difficult it is because of the tee time is so late and you have all day to think about it. You mentioned watching the Golf Channel. Is that something you normally do, watch analysis like that before a round? And then also, a lot of people would like to know, what were you listening to when you were hitting balls warming up today? PATRICK REED: Well, I always watch golf in the mornings. I'm at home and it's an off‑week, I'm a guy that gets up so early. I'm usually watching European Tour. Then if it's afternoon tee time, I'm watching European Tour into the PGA TOUR. It's just something I've always kind of watched. And I've been listening to, probably not going to even‑‑ just a couple of my songs, a couple of music that I always listen to when I play. Q. It seemed like the crowd was cheering louder for the other golfers. Your caddie said he noticed that. Did you notice it, and was there any motivation? PATRICK REED: Yeah. I walked up to the first tee and had a really welcoming cheer from the fans, but then when Rory walked up to the tee, you know, his cheer was a little louder. But that's another thing that just kind of played into my hand. Not only did it fuel my fire a little bit, but also, it just takes the pressure off of me and adds it back to him. I think that's the biggest thing is going into a Sunday, especially trying to win, for me trying to win my first; for him, trying to win the career Grand Slam, it's who is going to handle the pressure and who is going to have more pressure on them. Honestly, I felt like a lot of that pressure was kind of lifted and kind of taken off of me. The fans, yes, were cheering for me, but some of them were cheering more for Rory. At the same time, you had a lot of the guys picking him to win over me, and it's just kind of one of those things that the more kind of chatter you have in your ear and about expectations and everything, the harder it is to play golf. I just kind of went out there and just tried to play golf the best I could and tried to stay in the moment and not worry about everything else. Q. To follow that up, do you wish you were more popular with the fans, or is it something you've turned to your advantage? PATRICK REED: No, I don't think it's really as much a popularity thing with the fans as it is that Rory has been in this position before to win here. He's played some really solid golf here. A lot of people are wanting him to win to get that career Grand Slam. Yeah, it's just nature, and honestly to me, it was just go out there and play golf. Whether they are almost cheering for me‑‑ almost felt like a Ryder Cup. When I was overseas, they will cheer for good golf no matter what. It's the same thing here. If you hit quality golf shots, they are going to cheer. But if two guys hit the same exact shots, whoever is the home guy is going to get louder cheers. For Rory being in position and trying to win here in the past, and you know, having some success here, it didn't surprise me that the fans were cheering for him in the beginning. Q. First a quick housecleaning question. What size jacket do you wear? PATRICK REED: I think this is a 44. I don't know. The one that fits (smiling). Q. Looking back, do you regret in any way saying you were top five, making that comment, or did you just validate it today? PATRICK REED: Well, I mean, honestly, I don't ever regret anything I really say. You know, I stand by my comments. I feel like that I've played some golf that I need to play in order to get to where I want to be, and that's to be the best golfer in the world. You know, but the way you're going to do that is perform in these big events and to win these big events. You know, I'm just happy to be up here and be able to say I've gotten over that hump of not winning at all last year, coming into a year that one of my biggest goals was to win a major and compete in golf tournaments. To be able to get them both at once, to end the drought and win a major, it helps me mentally, and also helps my resumé, and hopefully I can just take this momentum going forward and play some really solid golf. Q. What did you think held you back initially at majors? It took you a very long time just to get a Top‑10. PATRICK REED: The biggest thing was I put too much pressure on myself. I went out there and I tried so hard to get the ball in the hole. I tried so hard to hit the perfect shots, that going into this week, I was just like, hey, it's golf. Go play. I preached that to myself the entire week. I had my caddie remind me of that the entire week. Just be you. Play golf. If you get riled up, show it. If you aren't happy about something, it's all right. Just play golf. You know, I was able to stay in that kind of mind‑set the entire week, and especially through the first three rounds. I haven't really had much success in shooting low rounds out here at Augusta, and to be able to shoot three of my lowest rounds the first three days, it showed a lot. I knew because of that coming into today, that I really had a really good chance to win a golf tournament. Q. Your Augusta roots run pretty deep. I'm just wondering if it's bittersweet to not be able to share this moment with your parents and your sister? PATRICK REED: I mean, I'm just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments. Q. If we had spoken to you last year leaving here, and you had four opportunities at Augusta National, never Top‑20, what would you have said if our question had been: How long is it going to take you to contend here and win here? PATRICK REED: Oohh. It's hard to say. I mean, because it‑‑ because coming into this week and this year, it hasn't been the same thing every year. I mean, some years I've putted well and I haven't been able to hit a single green. Some years it's been I've hit the ball okay and haven't made a single putt. Other years everything's been bad. You know, it's hard to say. I think the biggest thing was when is it that I'm going to get out of my own way and just enjoy the ride and come play. That's the biggest thing here, is just allow me to play golf and not worry about what's at stake, not worry about the greens being so fast, so slopey or you can't do this, you can't do that, you have to avoid this. You know, I just needed to get right mentally coming into this week, and, you know, coming into Augusta, because that's the biggest thing I feel like's helped me back here is mentally not getting psyched out about the week, getting psyched out about the greens, how fast and slopey they are, things like that. I felt like my team was able to help me out on that and just handle it the way I needed to handle it this week, and that's really just the biggest thing. MODERATOR: Patrick, you did it pretty well, I would say. Congratulations, 2018 Masters Champion. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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