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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 17, 2018

Patrick Reed

Southampton, New York

Q. (No microphone).
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it played a lot easier. You kind of expect it, especially early on. You knew they watered the greens. I was able to watch it early on TV and seeing how receptive the greens were. So you knew you had to go out and attack early. I was able to do that, but just made too many mistakes toward the end.

Q. What were you thinking when you walked to the 8th tee box after, you know, that birdie binge?
PATRICK REED: Just keep hitting the ball the way you're hitting it. Hit the ball on the green, try to let the putter work, and that's the thing. I did that today. I only missed three greens. Out of the three greens I missed, I only had to chip twice. One of them was just barely off the edge, so I was able to putt.

So I hit the ball fine. You know, honestly, through the first 11 holes, I didn't really feel like I missed a golf shot. I was hitting my lines. And, you know, just happened to be that I hit the ball a lot farther than I think I do, because step up on 11, and it's 160-something yards, and I'm hitting 85 percent pitching wedges and flying the green. So it's hard to think I need to hit gap wedge there, but you just can't put yourself in that spot.

My bogey on 9 was just a misjudge on the first putt and, you know, my second putt was just -- kind of hopped on me and kind of dove early.

So, yeah, it happens. You just have to learn from it and hopefully, you know, hit the ball closer so you're not having these 30, 40 footers up over hills.

Q. Were you trying to hit the green on 12 on your second shot?
PATRICK REED: Actually, no. It was such a bad lie that Charl, when I played yesterday, he was -- Friday, he was in that same exact spot, and he just swung as hard as he could. It barely got to the road. I practiced a couple of shots out over there during the practice round. You almost barely can move the golf ball, especially if it gets sitting down. It was such a bad lie.

I was thinking, if I just hacked on a 9 iron as hard as I could, it might be able to get to the road. I was hoping to advance it like 40 yards, and it actually came out better and faster than I thought. Next thing you know, it ends up in a sandy hole in the fescue, which is not a very good spot either.

Q. Appreciate the Masters more on a day like today where you play pretty well, put yourself in position, and remember how hard it is to win these things?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, you know, I felt it was two kind of totally different things. At Augusta, I had a three-shot lead. You know, I had a comfortable lead kind of going in. Just kind of played steady.

And, you know, coming into today, with what happened yesterday -- with really, I mean, yesterday, I didn't even think the golf course was unfair. I just felt like two pins, the pin on 13 and 15, if they were two paces closer to the middle of the green, the golf course would have played fine. No one would have really complained.

You know, when something like that happens, all of a sudden you're coming into today, you knew that they were going to water the heck out of the greens, that they're going to be soft. And when that happens, you're taking out a lot of the bite of the golf course. And, you know, it showed.

A lot of the early rounds, Fleetwood played an unbelievable round, goes posts 7 under. You see other low scores out there, guys shooting under par, which you didn't see throughout the whole week.

Q. Patrick, I know you spent a lot of time with Tim Fox leading up into the tournament, a local paper, so it matters to us. Tell me a little bit about how that helped you and what that relationship was like.
PATRICK REED: Oh, it was awesome. Tim was great. To spend all last week with him up here and walk around the golf course and, you know, the first couple days really getting to know the golf course with him. And then just be able to go out and enjoy your time with somebody, hang out, and just small talk and play the golf course and just get a little bit more comfortable with it.

As the golf course would, you know, firm up, he'd tell me little nuances about it. Also, when the wind was a different direction, you know, he had so much knowledge and such a great guy to be around. So much help.

It speaks volumes to the kind of guy he is. When I come out here and I start practicing early last week, and I'm practicing 2 1/2, 3 hours before I go play, and he's over there feeding me golf balls and cleaning clubs and helping me out. Anything I needed, he was there for. You don't get that all the time, and it's pretty awesome. They run a great crew here at the club.

Q. What was the emotion like, knowing you had a chance at the second leg today of the Grand Slam?
PATRICK REED: Of course it's disappointing, but at the same time -- you know, I mean, finish second, tied for second at PGA last year, won Augusta, then I think I'll finish in the top five here. Honestly, I have no clue where I am right now. Just say a top ten finish. To finish in the top ten three of the last -- my last three Majors, and to have a chance to really win all three of them and to close one off, it means a lot.

Of course, Grand Slam would have been nice. But, you know, I mean, honestly, to me, that was really the last thing on my mind. It was go out, play some solid golf, try to post a number and see if you can get the job done.

I had a chance. I definitely had a chance. Just too many missed putts, and at the end of the day, just needed to hit the ball a little closer.

Q. Did all that practice that you had pay off a lot over the week, or were the conditions such that it didn't translate that much?
PATRICK REED: You know, I felt like it helped because to be able to go around with Tim, he was able to tell me if this hole plays really firm. This is kind of the way you're going to want to have to play this hole. If this plays soft, as it was when I was here, then you knew what to do.

But to have somebody that knows the golf course that was able to kind of tell me what and where you can start thinking about on firmer conditions was nice because it was crazy. It felt like four different days and four different golf courses.

You had the first day that was, you know, I would say, medium to soft greens, but it was blowing 40, it felt like. Then you had, next day, it was firm as firm can be. The next day, you had kind of medium to soft to ridiculously firm, as you went through the round. Then today, that was just soft.

So you had almost seemed like four different golf courses we played, which is fine. I don't mind. And, you know, it's supposed to be tough out there.

Q. (No microphone).
PATRICK REED: I'll take that last one.

Q. You've had a couple of good performances in the metropolitan area, winning at Barclays and then here. Your thoughts on playing in the metropolitan area?
PATRICK REED: I love it. I love coming up here and playing. You know, the fans are -- the fans are great. To be around them, if you're playing well, they get behind you, they really start going. If you're not playing very well, you know, they try to pick you up.

And I love being up here, love playing, and, you know, I play well up here. So hopefully, more tournaments stay up here.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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