U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2020

September 19, 2020

Patrick Reed

Winged Foot Golf Club

Flash Interview

Q. Patrick Reed, 77. What do you take from today?

PATRICK REED: Well, I got all my bad shots out of the way. You know, it was just one of those days. I couldn't find a fairway, and from there trying to guess out of the rough all day, it was just hard. It was brutal.

Out of the rough, it seemed like as the week is going along, it's getting a little longer, little thicker, ball is kind of sitting more at the bottom. It's a guessing game, how it's going to come out. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to guess correctly and, at the same time, wasn't able to put the ball in the right spots.

Just kind of one of those days that when I hit the quality good golf shot, it still ended up in a spot on the green that I had to be really defensive, couldn't actually be aggressive with putting. And then when I missed greens, it seemed just to be in spots that -- chipping it to four or five feet would have been absolutely amazing. There's some of those holes out there that I would have taken eight feet from some of the spots, ten feet from where I put it.

Q. Do you have a chance tomorrow, and how much help would you need?

PATRICK REED: You're definitely going to need some help, but at the end of the day, it's a long shot, but you saw how fast it can go the wrong direction. You get just a little off around here, you can make some numbers.

You know, the good thing is even though I'm, what, 3-over par, leader is at 5, if I go out and I do something like I did on Monday, if I go out and shoot a really low one and finally hit some fairways, hit some greens and make some putts, you never know.

It's a Sunday at a major. The guy that's in the lead is a great golfer, and all the guys here are. It's just kind of one of those things that you just never know.

Q. You just threw an acorn at your playing partner; do you think if it actually touched him he would feel it?

PATRICK REED: No, definitely not. As I'm walking by, he's like, oh, I spent the whole day in the rough. I mean, probably hit seven more fairways than I did today. It's just kind of one of those things that -- he handled himself well. He was able to manage himself around the golf course, and he seemed to just -- when he missed fairways or missed balls, he missed it in the right spots.

I think that was the biggest thing today is when I did miss a fairway, most of them I missed in okay spots, but they were far enough off line today that it wasn't in the semi-rough. It was in the really thick stuff.

When you get in the really thick stuff, the ball seems to sit all the way to the bottom and then it's just a hack out. My short game just could not save me today. It was in too bad of spots, and then when I wouldn't miss the green, it was in areas that I just couldn't get up-and-down. And one of those things that you just can't continue missing fairways and missing greens and expect to continue shooting under par.

You know, the good thing is I feel like I got all the bad shots out of the way today, and hopefully tomorrow I can go out and hit some fairways, hit some greens, make some putts.

Q. Did you feel like you lost confidence with your driver during the day?

PATRICK REED: No, I didn't. You know, there's a lot of holes out here where it's an either-or depending on wind, whether it's a driver or 3-wood, and I felt like our game plan was still solid. I felt like I was making aggressive golf swings towards the targets, whether I was hitting a fade or hitting a draw.

I was just off today. I felt like the warmup was solid, felt like I was moving it both ways comfortably out there on the driving range, and when I got to the golf course, it just wasn't quite where it needed to be. That's the thing is when you miss the fairway, especially here, you know you're going to have to be penalized for it.

On the front side, even though I shot 1-under par, I hit -- hole 4 and 9 were my only two fairways. No. 2, even though I missed the fairway, I put it in the fairway bunker. You hit it in the fairway bunker, as long as the lip is not in your way, you're happy. It's almost like playing from the fairway rather than playing out of the rough.

It's just stuff like that where the first two days, even though I was missing fairways, there was a lot of semis and first cuts rather than hitting it in the really thick stuff; and today it just seemed like the ball almost kind of bounced over the semis and ended up in thicker stuff.

Q. How would you describe your emotions right now?

PATRICK REED: Frustrated. Yeah, I mean, anyone in my position would be frustrated, especially with having the lead going into today. The great thing is there's always tomorrow, and like I said, it's a U.S. Open. Even though eight shots seems like a lot, a lot of times you go out there, you make a birdie, the guy makes a bogey, gets himself in some trouble, that's a two-shot swing quickly. It's one of those things that even though I'm eight shots back, if I go out and play a really solid round tomorrow, you never know.