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THE RYDER CUP

September 25, 2018

Patrick Reed

Guyancourt, France

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Mr. Reed. Welcome to The Ryder Cup.

PATRICK REED: Thank you. Glad to be here.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Looking forward to it, are you?

PATRICK REED: Can't wait.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: How is it shaping up out here? How is it looking?

PATRICK REED: It's awesome to be here. The golf course is absolutely perfect. It's in perfect shape. Fairways are nice and narrow. Rough's really thick. So it's going to be one of those golf courses that it's going to take a premium on ball striking and all aspects of the game, because you're going to get a couple of bad bounces here and there. You're going to end up in some spots that you're not supposed to, but it's going to come down to who can manage your game the best and who can handle mentally the bad breaks as well as the good breaks to succeed and play well.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: I imagine a grandstand with 7,000 people will get you going.

PATRICK REED: Why only 7? Couldn't you get more? When I first saw that on the first tee, I looked up and felt like I kept looking up and up and up. There's going to be so many people that are sitting in there. It's going to be an unbelievable atmosphere.

The first tee is going to be just so much fun. You know, I can't wait to hear all the little cheers and just little quirky things that they can do and say, because it's always fun coming overseas and hearing all the little playful jabs and chants that they have going on.

Q. Do you feel like a different guy when you get on the grounds here?
PATRICK REED: No, not really. I'd say the biggest difference I'm feeling is you're not only playing for your country, but you have 11 other teammates and captains and assistant captains, and a group there to help you out. Normal week, tournament week, you walk in and you go to the golf course and it's just you, your caddie and coach, and that's about it. Now you have a bunch of guys to kind of hang out with and just have some fun with and let loose, especially early on in the week.

Q. When you hear Phil talk about a 25-year streak where the U.S. had not won in Europe, how big a motivator is that for the younger guys?
PATRICK REED: I feel like it's a huge one. Because the young guys don't want to have to go through what the old guys did every 25 years. We want to go out and play some really good golf and get more competitive overseas.

It's kind of one of those things that we want to go in and put our foot down and go out and play some good golf, kind of like we did in 2016, and try to win the Cup and take the Cup back home.

Q. You mentioned a playfulness of the fans. Do you expect it to be a bit hostile, as well? Is there anything that the fans could do that would get under your skin, or is that just fuel to your fire?
PATRICK REED: I mean, there's really nothing to really get underneath my skin, that's for sure. In 2014, with how the fans were on the first tee, just the bantering back and forth and the chants, I thought were very clever and very fun, because they know that line of respect -- where that line of respect happens, and they always are above that line. They never actually cross it and get disrespectful.

That's one thing I cherish when I come overseas is they know how to give jabs and take shots at you back and forth, and they do it in a respectful way.

I think that just speaks volumes of the type of people, and the sports fans and passion they have for sports. It's a place I've always loved to come. And I'm still trying to come up with something that I get to do and kind of keep my years going for three in a row and see if I can get booed again. (Laughter).

Q. I think the way that you and Jordan started your Ryder Cup careers, many of us probably expected you guys to be pencilled in as partners until you're 50. Curious, the status of that partnership, and if you would welcome changing up your dance card?
PATRICK REED: It's going to come down to what Captain thinks and what we all think is best for the team.

You know, it's just going to really all depend on what we think are the best people we can put out and best teams we can put out since some guys are going to sit at some point, and who we feel can go out and get us the most points possible.

Q. I'm wondering at what age in your life did you grasp: I'm really good at match play?
PATRICK REED: I've played a couple junior events that I seemed to play really well in, but I feel like the biggest thing would have been in college, to go up against -- I went up against Chesson Hadley, Peter Uihlein twice, Harris English, and I went 6-0 in match play for two years at Augusta State. Won the matches comfortably, as well.

You know, at that point, I knew that -- I already knew and felt like I was pretty good at match play, but at that point, I was like: Match play's fun.

Q. Last week at THE TOUR Championship, it seemed as if there were more fans following you, shouting "Captain America" than "Masters Champ." I was wondering what that is like for you, and just what does it feel like to have that monicker?
PATRICK REED: It's awesome. I felt like the fans, especially back home, they are just trying to get me in that mind-set and get ready to go out and get ready for Ryder Cup; being Captain America and going out and playing.

It's a good problem to have to have people either saying Captain America or Masters Champion. Before, I only had one of them and now to have both of them, it feels great.

But this week, I'm definitely Captain America.

Q. Part of the theme of this Ryder Cup is that Europe has five rookies. You obviously played tremendously well as a rookie. How were you able to do that?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing was, for me personally, I felt like I had something to prove. You know, to be a rookie and kind of get on the team, and especially with how I played in college match play, I felt like I had to come out and prove to myself that I need to go out and play well and win my matches.

You know, just to validate that mind-set that I have and that what I did in college, how I felt as a match play player coming into The Ryder Cup, that I belonged here and I belonged to play well, not just to be on the team. I felt like that was the biggest thing for me.

Q. Bryson was in here a little while ago talking about his excitement to play in a tournament where it's acceptable to show the kind of fire that he wishes he could show more often, and he cited your play. Is this a discussion you've had with him at all?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, you know, the biggest thing with the guys, especially talking with Bryson and stuff, we're going out there and you can get excited. It's the one week that you can show your emotion and show it on your sleeve.

Every guy who goes out and plays, whether it's this event or any golf tournament we play, we all have a bunch of emotion. It's just some guys wear it on their sleeve and some guys bottle it up. This is the one week you can show the passion you have for the game of golf and the passion you have for your country and the passion you have for your teammates to go out and play the best you can.

If you make a putt and you're excited, show it. If you go out and you miss a putt, and you're not thrilled, show it, but do it in the right way. That's the biggest thing, is this is the one week that we're allowed to let loose and show our emotions and play golf.

Q. You mentioned your match play. What specifically do you think you picked up on that makes you so successful at match play? And also you talked about banter with fans and fans booing you. What is it about you that you enjoys that? A lot of guys, they kind of go the other way if the fans are against them. Why do you seem to thrive on that?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing is I know it's playfulness. They are not booing me -- like in 2014, they didn't boo me because of anything that was disrespectful or because they didn't like me. Just because when Henrik, their guy, makes a putt, the crowd goes nuts, and then when I made the putt, I told them to shush, quiet down. The match is only six holes in and we're only all-square.

I think that elevated 2014, the rest of that round, because as the round went on, the crowds got louder and louder. You know, different chants came out, and as I would walk up towards a green, if he was inside me, you would just hear, "Shhhh," as I'm walking up because all the fans are doing it to me.

What I loved about it was about a month later I came back and played in the Volvo Match Play. When I got there, there were at least a hundred or 200 fans that were just following me religiously throughout the week, and the entire time, they were cheering me on and they really enjoyed me coming back and playing. I felt like that's something that they really understand, with how they are with football over here and how passionate they get on their team and stuff, they saw some of the passion that I have for the game of golf, and they respect that.

It's just something fun to be able to come over and relish being -- especially overseas. Coming overseas, Captain America, I was supposed to be the villain, just like when Ian Poulter comes to the States, he's the villain. So you expect to hear the fans kind of go back and forth with you. If it's not happening, it probably means you're not playing very well, and they are just like, all right, we've got him in check.

I love it when we can interact with the fans and get going, because there's no other event that you can do that at.

I think the biggest thing is it's a head-to-head battle. It's throwing two guys in the ring, and now it's throw two guys on the golf course, and whoever plays the best is the one walking out of it. You know, there's so many different things that come into factor when it's a stroke-play event, depending on what time your tee time is, what wave you're on, how the weather is when you're playing compared to when the other guy is playing.

In match play, you're on the same hole, in the same group, in every condition the other guy is, and it's just go out and see who can play the best golf.

Q. You mentioned the massive grandstand at 1. What do you remember of your first tee shot in 2014, and what do you make of the whole dynamic of that first tee shot?
PATRICK REED: In 2014, that was the worst tee shot I've hit in both my Ryder Cups throughout the entire tournaments. It was a 3-wood at Gleneagles. It was a 3-wood pitching wedge, if that, if pitching wedge.

I go and step up on the tee, I get there and my adrenaline is just through the roof, and I look around and I feel like all the air has just gotten sucked out of the room when they announced us to hit.

Yes, I sky-ed it. I sky-ed the 3-wood. I hit the fairway, though. I was one for one. Hit the fairway. Those guys were hitting 9-iron and pitching wedge and green, I hit 3-iron, ended up parring the hole, halved the hole with the guys, which is good, but there's nothing like the first tee at a Ryder Cup. You step up on that first tee and just the thoughts that go through your mind that, hey, I'm here representing my country. All these people are here. You know millions of people are watching back home, and just the juices are flowing through you, just through the roof. It's one of those moments you'll never really get to feel.

And to be able to do it, you know, in 2014, 2016 and now this year, it's an awesome feeling. I can't wait to get that whole entire grandstand filled up and see what that dynamic is like having that many people around the first tee.

Q. More to that point, you and Rory were so high on adrenaline in that match, did it even surprise you that you could be that amped up and play golf to that level?
PATRICK REED: I didn't think I could ever get that amped up. I was so -- just so through the roof, that during warm-ups, it's one great thing with Tiger being the assistant captain. He's watching me warm up and he's just like, He needs to calm down. He needs to chill out. I was hitting the ball sideways. I was just like, let go.

He just kind of following me, pulled me aside. Kind of cracked a little joke to calm me down a little bit, and I was able to bring that adrenaline level down to manageable rather than sitting there on high rev.

It's something that was hard to, you know, make sure you stayed in that mind frame and also that level you could play. You get so amped up, it's hard. It's hard to figure out how far you're going to hit the golf ball but at the same time, if you're so even keeled on the other direction, it's hard to get yourself up to get going. You only have 18 holes.

The good thing is I've been able to manage that really well, and luckily I was able to have Tiger there to kind of help me out there on Sunday.

You know, once that match was over against Rory, there was a sigh of relief, not only to win the match, but also Rory and I, just the amount of energy physically, but mentally that we put out on that 18 holes; you know, it was -- we were glad that -- well, I was glad that it ended the way it did, but I think we were both glad that we went out and played the great golf that we did and able to show the passion that we had for each side's team, each side's country and go out and play the golf we did to finish off the year.

Q. You had mentioned the two villains on either side of the team there. How much would you relish getting Ian Poulter? Is that the match you want the most?
PATRICK REED: It would always be great playing Poults. Kind of looking at the guys on the team, with how stacked each team is from top to bottom on the U.S. side and the European side, I'll take any of them. All of the guys are playing some great golf. I've always been the type that I want to go up their best guy, and so on Sunday, I want to go up against who whoever is playing the best that week.

I love that challenge and I love to go out and go out and play their guy, and the first year it was Stenson. Last year it was Rory.

So it's just one of those things that I enjoy going out and playing the guys that are playing the best, but you know, the great thing I feel like with both squads this year is it doesn't matter if you're the guy who got in on points as No. 1 or if you're the last pick of the captain; it does not matter. I mean, any one of those guys, they play the golf they are capable of, they are going to be hard to beat no matter what.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Many thanks.

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