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DESERT CLASSIC

January 15, 2019

Charlie Reiter

La Quinta, California

DOUG MILNE: We will go ahead and get started. Like to welcome Charlie Reiter. Thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Making your second career PGA TOUR start. First one, obviously, here last year. And before we get into a couple questions about being here last year, bring us up to speed on what you've been doing, what you've been working on and how life is for you these days.

CHARLIE REITER: Thank you for having me. I just started my first semester at SC. We have had four tournaments in the fall. We played at Olympia Fields, Colonial, one in Georgia and up at Poppy Hills. And it's been awesome traveling and with the team and playing out for SC.

DOUG MILNE: How much did the experience of playing here last year has that kind of elevated you to that next level so to speak?

CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, it definitely taught me a lot playing in it last year and what I needed to focus on and work on and that's what I've been doing for the past year. So hopefully it shows this week.

DOUG MILNE: Okay, open it up for questions.

Q. What are your expectations this year?
CHARLIE REITER: Just going out and playing my best that I possibly can and we'll see how that turns out at the end of the week.

Q. You said yesterday you weren't sure that the people here were going to invite you back for a second year. After you left here was that kind of something you really wanted to do was come back and play in this tournament again or other TOUR events?
CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, absolutely. This is my hometown and I will always try to play in this event, just because it's a wonderful event and they put a great -- they make it a great event for the community, so it's always a pleasure to get invited or play in this event.

Q. You're obviously one of the longer players in collegiate golf. When you come out here to play in a TOUR event, these guys you don't see on a weekly basis, are they surprised by your club head speed and do you ever get any comments when they hear the sound as the ball coming off the club face?
CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, I've gotten a couple comments, most of them are just kind of like surprised by it. But they all see a bunch of the young guys out here also hitting it that far. So I mean a couple of the guys are surprised by the speed that I have.

Q. What were the memories like? Are there some shots that come to mind from last year that pop in your head as you're back on the grounds?
CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, I mean, last year during the first round on the fifth hole at La Quinta I had like a little 5-iron from like 224 and I had to hit a little low draw around a tree and I hit it to a foot. And before that I was 2-over and then I eagled that hole and it jump started everything and I started playing really well after that.

Q. What are some things that you learned last year that you hope to incorporate into this year's tournament?
CHARLIE REITER: Probably just course management and learning how to play out there in different conditions and stuff like that. And I'm kind of excited for the rain. It's unusual out in the desert, so that will be fun to play in that.

Q. You bring up the rain, the weather. Obviously being a local here you're used to the beautiful weather that we usually have here, how do you think the playing conditions will be this tournament as in how it could affect the play?
CHARLIE REITER: It's not that much different, just a little wetter out there. The greens will be a little softer, so you can go at a little more flags than usual. But it's going to be fun finally playing in the rain.

Q. Everybody does talk about how far you hit the ball off the tee. Where do you generate all that power?
CHARLIE REITER: I honestly have no idea, I think I was just born with it maybe.

(Laughter.)

Q. So when you were six you were hitting it 350 off the tee. No.
CHARLIE REITER: No, not yet.

Q. Hit it and go find it? Do you not really think about anything particularly just hit it hard?
CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, just swing and that's just the speed I create. Just being really flexible as a kid and it's just helped me so much.

DOUG MILNE: Who are some of the guys that you look up to out here on TOUR? You got obviously a guy like Cameron Champ who is known for his length. Do you have guys that you kind of tune into week-in and week-out?

CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, I really enjoy watching like Rory and Phil and like Dustin Johnson play their game just because it's so much like mine, being that they hit it so far. So just seeing how they play and how they go around a course really helps.

DOUG MILNE: Last year here you had a little bit of everything. You started off I think 68 and then 70, Saturday wasn't ideal. So you kind of had the ups and the downs. Are you bringing any hopes, expectations, a learning experience maybe from last year that you can kind of use to level yourself out?

CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, I don't want to come in with any expectations. I'm just trying to go out here and play the best that I can. But learning from last year, just couple mental mistakes too many, so being able to fix those out on the course and learning from that.

Q. Is there anything that you've learned at SC so far in terms of the golf that has changed you or made you a better player?
CHARLIE REITER: Definitely one of the things Coach Zambri does a lot is there's this -- I forgot what it was called but it's like the way you go around the golf course, there's like areas that are more trouble from other certain areas, so it's about where you want to miss it and where you should line your, line it up to find the area that if you do miss it you have the most opportunity to be able to be still on the green or in a spot where it's an easier up-and-down than a different area.

DOUG MILNE: I'm sure last year when you got the invite to the event you had friends, family everybody crawling out of the woodwork. Are you seeing a lot of those people coming back excited to have back out this year?

CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, not -- all my high school friends are in college now, but still there's a bunch of people that are going to come out and watch me. I think my team at SC might come out Saturday and maybe support me down here, so I'm excited for that.

DOUG MILNE: Did that add to your nerves or was it nice to have so many familiar faces?

CHARLIE REITER: It's just nice to have people coming out and supporting, I like seeing a bunch of my friends coming out to support me, so I think it's been a nice thing for that.

DOUG MILNE: All right, well, Charlie, we appreciate your time. Best of luck this week.

CHARLIE REITER: Yeah, thank you so much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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