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THE 147TH OPEN

July 17, 2018

Patrick Reed

Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom

MIKE WOODCOCK: We're joined by the 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed in the interview room. Patrick, you've had a fantastic year so far. How much confidence does that give you going into this week at The Open?

PATRICK REED: I feel good. I feel like the game's where it needs to be, and just trying to get a little bit more and more comfortable with the place on landing the ball short and letting it run. I feel good. Just can't wait for the week to get started. Hopefully go out and have a good tournament.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Different kind of test for you this week in links golf?

PATRICK REED: It is. You can hit the same club three different ways and get completely different numbers on all three. You really have to be not only in control of your golf ball, but also control the flights and be in control of what you're trying to do out there because you barely miss a golf shot, if you catch it a little thin or hit it a little lower, it can literally maximize the misses by just running forever.

So it's a true test on who's hitting the ball the best, who has full, complete control of their golf game, and depending on what the wind does and how the greens end up, if they end up firmer than where they are now, it's going to also test your mental game.

Q. Patrick, is this kind of golf the best test of golf?
PATRICK REED: I think it's definitely up there. I mean, it just kind of -- it all depends on what Mother Nature brings to you. If it's blowing kind of consistently, like 15, 20 miles an hour, I would say it's a really good test. But it really all depends because, if you play this golf course when there's no wind, you're going to see some low scores, especially with how firm and fast the fairways are playing. The greens are a little on the softer side, so you're able to kind of attack with wedges.

But, yeah, I would say, if the wind starts blowing, then it's definitely a big test on all aspect of the game because you hit so many different kinds of golf shots.

Q. Patrick, why do you think you're a better links player now than when you first started your career?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing is I've played more rounds, been more experienced with it. It's just hard to -- being from the States, it's hard to, you know, just fathom and think about, okay, I have 260. I can just hit kind of like a 90 percent 6 iron, and it's going to get there. Back home, 260, you're hitting 3 wood. You're flying it 250, 248, and it's going to land pretty soft and stop.

Today, I mean, for example, like on hole 16, I was just kind of messing around and hit my first 6 iron onto the green, and it landed 20 yards from the green and rolled up and just barely stopped short of the ridge in the middle of the green and kind of rolled back down onto the front part of the green. It was like, oh, okay. I just dropped a ball in the tee box. I literally chipped it and hit it maybe 70 percent, hit it head high, and landed it about 100 yards short of the green and got it three yards past the flag in the middle of the green. Went 40 yards farther than a stock 6 iron.

So I think that's the biggest thing is for me earlier, the first couple years, when I hear those numbers, 230 to the flag, I'm sitting there going, oh, well, I have to hit 7 iron or soft 6 iron. Subconsciously in your mind, you're sitting there going, oh, it's not going to get there and you kind of jerk at it, and now your swing breaks down a little bit. Now I'm sort of accepting it. I've gotten a little more comfortable with doing it. It's come a little bit easier, especially down the stretch in tournament play.

Q. Patrick, you probably over the last 12 months, you've probably got the best major record around. How are you managing to maintain that because winning the Masters, for example, a lot of people would expect that would take an awful lot out of you in terms of your energy. How are you managing to maintain it in the majors?
PATRICK REED: The biggest thing is I treat them like they're normal events. I've always kind of gone in majors, put too much pressure on myself, having to go play well, having to do this, having to make birdie here. And now I go in there and try to play golf and keep in the mindset of, hey, it's just another day on the golf course. Let's just go play. I've been able to stay in that mindset the past three, and I've played pretty well in all three of them.

That's all I'm going to try to do this week, continue improving on the things Coach and I are working on, and from there just have fun with it and go out and play golf and see how far I can hit some of the irons off the tees into fairways, and see if I can have fun and play creative golf because I think that's what it's going to take out here.

Q. You spoke about the good relationship you have with the fans over here. Do you feel you're more appreciated over in Scotland, the UK, than you are back home?
PATRICK REED: You know, it's different. Back home is home. I mean, you have a lot of fans, a lot of support at home, but when you come over here, when you go overseas, especially after the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and I shushed the crowd, you would've thought I would have come over here and have a lot of mixed reviews from people. But they seemed to really get behind me because they saw the passion I have not only for the game but for my country and golf.

The more I started talking to some of the fans, the more I started paying a little bit more attention to football and stuff, you see how passionate they get with their team who are out there grinding and are playing for their country and everything. I think they really enjoy that. You know, I think that's the reason they got behind me.

I always love coming over here because of the fans. It's awesome to be around.

Q. You got a football team yet?
PATRICK REED: Not one that's good enough to play in the World Cup.

Q. Patrick, can you just explain your thinking as far as going without an equipment sponsor? What made you want to go with a mixed bag? And how big of a risk was it?
PATRICK REED: I was fortunate enough to be able to team up with Nike, and I've always loved Nike with their clothing, and I've just loved the brand in general. And to be able to get back and be with Nike, it freed me up to give me that kind of opportunity that, that if I wanted to take the risk, to mix up the golf bag and not go with a manufacturer. I kind of just sat down with my wife and my team, and I was like, hey, well, even though we're not going to have any kind of security without having a manufacturer, at the same time, if I feel like I have the best 14 clubs in my golf bag for my game as well as the best golf ball, who knows how many shots I could save? In the long run, I'm going to earn more on the golf course than I am off the golf course from a manufacturer.

It was definitely a risk, and it was a risk that my wife and I thought was a risk worth taking, since we had a great team and being able to team up with Nike. It's worked really well.

Q. Have offers been pouring in since the Masters? If so, do you think you'll eventually take one of them?
PATRICK REED: We'll have to wait and see. I'm not -- I don't really look into all that stuff during the year. I let that kind of happen at the end of the year. So my agent, he handles all that kind of stuff. I just focus on playing golf, and then once the off-season comes, that's when I sit down, and I kind of think about that stuff.

But right now, I feel really good with where the bag is and what we're doing. I would hate to kind of try and mix that up and derail the game or anything like that because of having to use certain things rather than going out and just playing with what I feel most comfortable with.

Q. Patrick, could you share a little bit the difference in what it felt for you driving on a Monday, hoping to get into a PGA Tour event, to driving down Magnolia Lane with a green jacket on your back.
PATRICK REED: Well, I haven't driven down Magnolia Lane yet with the green jacket on. You know, it's just kind of a feeling of a kind of satisfaction, knowing that all the hard work that we've put in and the way we kind of got started was kind of chasing the Mondays, kind of how we did in the olden days, having sleepless nights on Sundays because you're driving from one event to the Monday stop. The next thing you know, being able to get your card that year and winning the following season. And now all of a sudden, sitting here being a major champion, winning the green jacket, it just shows the hard work and dedication that not only myself had, but my team and my wife had because my wife was the one with the stable job with two bachelor degrees and having that stability for us and just being like, "You know what, I'll caddie for you." I'm like, "Well, that's nice, but we don't have -- there's no security there." She's like, "It's all right. We'll be okay."

So for her to believe in me and knowing how hard we've been working and being out there and now all of a sudden where we are at this point, it's just -- I just know that we're on the right path and what we're doing is the right thing, and we just need to keep grinding and keep on going, and hopefully add a Claret Jug and all the majors as well, and hopefully win the career grand slam at some point.

Q. Patrick, you're among a string, a growing string of U.S. major winners. I think it goes back five in a row now. What sort of message would it send ahead of the Ryder Cup if it was to become six this week?
PATRICK REED: You know, I mean, I think it would send a good message. I feel like our team is improving. I feel like the difference between '14 and '16 was not only the process it was to get the team put together, but also I felt like the focus and determination between our team as a unit was a lot stronger.

It's one of those things, if you have all of us out there -- really on either team. If we have all 12 guys in unison and focusing really hard and kind of grinding and very determined and kind of working as one unit, they're going to be hard to beat no matter what, whether it's our team or it's their team. I felt like we finally have kind of grasped that family unit that the Europeans have had since who knows how long. Every time I'm over here playing on both tours, the guys are always going out and eating together. They're always hanging out with each other during the tournament week. You don't see that as much in the States because everyone's traveling with their families and stuff.

I feel like we finally clicked and we figured out the right kind of mold for 2016 and moving forward. So if we can continue that run on winning the big tournaments and stuff and keeping them in the States, it's going to help -- you know, it's going to help our psyche, and it's also going to hopefully get in the heads of the Europeans a little bit that, hey, we're all playing pretty well, and we're coming.

Q. Patrick, how close are you to formulating a game plan this week? And how difficult is it to do so, knowing that you may have to throw out everything depending if the conditions change?
PATRICK REED: Well, I mean, I have a game plan for soft conditions, firm conditions, into the winds, downwinds, side winds on every hole. So my game plan's set. I'm ready to go. I'm just staying loose and making sure that I'm hitting the golf shots I'm supposed to be hitting on the golf course, and just fine tune the golf swing and just making sure everything is tight and where it needs to be.

It's pretty easy playing this place when it's really firm and fast, and it's very easy to tell into the wind and downwind kind of where you want to leave the ball. So for me, I know there's going to be -- I mean, there's 5,000 different ways for me to play these holes out here, but for me it was pretty clear-cut on how to play each hole. There's maybe three or four holes out there that's one way or another, and that's all going to depend on how I'm hitting certain clubs that day, on how aggressive I want to be.

But for me, the game plan is set. I just can't wait for the week to get started.

Q. And do you remember the first time you played a links style course? And what was your reaction?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it was at the Junior British Open. I ended up winning, it was at Heswall, when Tiger won at Hoylake, and I remember it was about 110 degrees, and I was in rain pants the entire week because I didn't like wearing shorts. Since I was part of the U.S. Team, we were all kind of had shorts, so I wore rain pants. It was so hot. I'll never forget hitting the first tee shot and being as young as I was, getting up there, and it was 308, and I was just like, wow, I just hit a drive over 300 yards, and now I'm hitting 2 irons over 360.

I just remember that it was very firm, very fast, and your short game completely changes from back home. Back home, I always opened the face and did a bunch of shots around the greens. Here because how firm it is, you're playing the ball on the ground. I think that was the hardest thing I had to get used to was how far the ball was going but also kind of changing my thought process of chipping around the greens. Sometimes it's putting. Sometimes it's hitting 7 iron and just kind of running the ball. But you're not hitting any high flops. It's almost impossible. So that's something that I think I had to adapt to really quickly and something I remember.

I was like, wow, this is insanely firm. I mean, I was in San Antonio at the time where I was living, hottest part of the summer and the greens and fairways weren't that firm. I mean, it's just crazy.

Q. Patrick, you talked about the kind of family culture within the U.S. Team, but one of the other changes at Hazeltine was passion for it. Do you feel what you did at Gleneagles in 2014 helped to change that? You gave a lead with a kind of more Poulter-like approach to the whole thing.
PATRICK REED: I mean, I hope it would help. It's hard to tell. I would think it would definitely help the guys kind of want to go out and win a little bit more and play better. You know, whether you're playing really well or not playing great, just any time you can get that positive energy from one of your teammates or something like that, it helps pick up the team.

I just -- I knew coming over, and I knew the record that U.S. had over here on foreign soil wasn't very good at the time. I knew how well I was playing, and I knew we had a big wall to try to climb in '14. With how we kind of were playing, kind of get started, I thought, if I could show as much energy as possible and play as well as I did, that I might be able to pick up my team and get something going on Sunday.

You know, it's just we ran into a team that was playing really well and we were unable to do it, but I feel like that kind of feeded into 2016. When you lose like we did in '14 and you have basically a completely change in kind of system that the team wanted to do, the players didn't want to let the system or the team or the country down in '16 back home. So I just think, as a unit, the whole group, we were all very determined and very focused to go out and play our best and play some solid golf. With that, when you're that determined and you're that passionate to play well, and when you start playing well, all the emotion will show. I think that was the biggest difference.

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