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TURKISH AIRLINES OPEN

November 9, 2019

Patrick Reed

Antalya, Turkey

Q. 65, how was that?
PATRICK REED: It's good. Any time you shoot 65, you're happy. There's a lot I left out there today, just alone on two of the par 5s and 5-footer for birdie, that was straightforward and ended up walking off with 6. Missed a really short one for birdie on 4, just those alone, that's three shots.

I left a couple out there but at the same time I made some putts I needed to make. I had a crucial save I felt like on 12. I was able to make the putt on the last, just kind of keep the momentum going. You know, how the conditions are, it's warm and benign winds; you're able to attack this place, so you've got to stay aggressive and make a lot of birdies.

Q. Thick rough, trees and fairways, position is key?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, you know, it definitely is key. If you're hitting your driver well and hitting it straight, then you can really attack this golf course. I felt like the driver has been cooperating for the most part. I haven't gotten myself into too much trouble with it. With that being said, if you're able to hit driver around this place and hit it in the fairway, you're going to have short irons in a lot of par 4s, and on the par 5s, you're going to be able to get home on every single one of them.

That can said, the guy who is hitting the driver well and making putts is going to end up winning this golf tournament. Good thing, I put myself in a good position to go out tomorrow and win the golf tournament.

Q. As a major and WGC champion, how much will that experience help you tomorrow?
PATRICK REED: It's going to help a lot. With how this golf course is set up, it's going to be a sprint. It's not really a marathon through the 18 holes. It's going to be more kind of a sprint because we're going to be trailing, so we're going to have catch up.

But at the same time, you've got to go make a lot of birdies. I think yesterday, I thought for sure I would have moved up more than I did from the position, shooting 7-under, but everybody is shooting 4-, 5-, 7-under around here, so you have to go out and do something spectacular to move up.

Any time you can put pressure on the leaders is always helpful. Especially here, it's gettable to do that early, and you have two par 5s that are reachable and a really short par 3 and then if you hit the fairway on 3, it's a wedge shot. That start here on this golf course can really get the minds of everyone turning and get the leaders to think a little bit, and biggest thing is I have to go out and make birdies when I have the chance to do that.

Q. You started the day at 8-under par, four shots behind the leader. Needed a low round and got one in 65. Give us your thoughts on that one?
PATRICK REED: It was okay. I missed way too many putts today. I actually hit the ball a lot better today than I have the past couple days, but the flat stick seemed to not cooperate as much as I wanted it to. Having a three-putt from five feet on a par 5, turning a birdie opportunity, should be a birdie, to a bogey. Really short one I missed on 4, the par 5, as well. Just those alone, there's five or six putts out there today that I had a good chance to make that I didn't.

Besides that, I did what I needed to do. I was talking with Kessler and we were saying, all right, if we can get to 13, 14, 15, it would be a great round, especially going into Sunday, might have a shot. We got to the highest number of the three.

We did what we had to do. Now just wait and see what happens with the leaders and just go out and shoot another one tomorrow.

Q. You said to me earlier in the week that you felt you had been playing too aggressively, and you were going to try to tailor that back a little bit. Have you done that?
PATRICK REED: Not at all. After seeing the golf course and knowing what the guys are going to be shooting out here, yeah, I'm picking -- I'm being aggressive, but I'm being careful. I'm not getting so aggressive I'm playing reckless out there. I'm attacking at most of the flags but attacking in the right spots.

Q. How far behind the leaders do you think you can be and still have a chance to win?
PATRICK REED: It all depends. Like today, just a low one, just the 3-putt from five feet, which is a basic 5-footer I missed on 4, that's three shots right there and that's a 10-under par round. That's not including the other putts that I feel like I missed or stuff I let get away.

So just alone with that, I wouldn't be surprised if someone could go shoot 60, 59, 61 out here. It's out there, especially with how benign the wind has been and how warm, so the ball is traveling.

I'll wait and kind of see. At the end of the day, whoever is in the lead, they are in the driver's seat obviously. If they go out and continue playing good golf and make a lot of birdies, going to be hard to catch.

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