SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 8, 2021

Patrick Reed

Plantation Course at Kapalua

Quick Quotes

Q. So close there to eagles both days there on 18. It was so close. But another quality round of golf. How do you feel about where you are after two rounds?

PATRICK REED: You know, obviously happy where I'm at, but it could have been a lot better. There's a lot of shots I've left out there on, just kind of careless mistakes here and there. Or putts like that on 18 that just need to have a little bit more pace.

I was going through the rounds earlier when I was walking up the last. I've had 15 putts I've left short and only five that I've missed that have gone past the hole. So moral of the story for me this week is getting the ball to the hole. I'm giving myself opportunities, but I'm not just quite getting the speed, not hitting them hard enough. Even the downhillers don't seem to have that much bite on them. I'm giving them too much credit.

Q. Interesting to hear you say that. I asked Dustin Johnson earlier, you both have a lot of familiarity with this golf course, and he said he's still adjusting to the speed and the read of the new greens that were redone a couple years ago.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, you know, last year it was wet. We had rain and the weather kind of predicted them being a little slower, but this year it just seems like they look a little faster in certain areas than they are and just, for me just have, just need that extra foot, foot and a half of speed on them to get the ball to the hole because around this place you have to be aggressive, especially on the greens. And with that being said, if you just kind of get the ball barely to the edge or just short is just not going to get it done.

Q. Final thing, you just need the mustache. We can call you Magnum today. Good luck.

PATRICK REED: Thank you.

Q. That shot on 9, you could have given up after that, having a double. It's almost like a triple on that hole, right? You obviously were able to fight back pretty impressively.

PATRICK REED: I felt like a quad, honestly, sitting in there and it's a shot that actually we hit during the practice round because I hit it in that bunker and I was like, you know what? Might as well try it just to see. And in the practice round we hit a couple different clubs and figured out that a pitching wedge was actually pretty good from there, trying to kind of get it out and get it up the hill. And I tried it in the golf tournament today and I guarantee you I won't be hitting pitching wedge out of the bunker ever again because I caught it a little too cleanly and sent it. I feel like the ball's still moving.

But, here's the thing, I felt like throughout the round I was doing a lot of things really solid. I was hitting the ball kind of where I wanted to. Distance control was a little off trying to figure out the winds early, but besides that I was able it make some birdies. And I knew with kind of how I was swinging and how the back nine with the wind kind of laying down, how I could play and that I still had an a chance and I had to go out there and make some birdies to get myself back in the golf tournament.

Q. Is that a major thing at this golf course, is that you know that with the back nine, some of the finishing holes, that you can make some hay down the stretch?

PATRICK REED: Yeah, for sure. Especially on a day like today where the wind's down, if the wind is down the back nine you can go and attack, but if the wind's blowing you got to pick your poison. But yeah, to do something like that on 9, I mean that's, that's not very good. I mean, it's a birdie hole, even if it's not in that bunker, I mean 3-wood, leave myself 30 yards from the green and that means a basic kind of pitch. Hit a poor 3-wood there, kind of pulled it, and then put yourself in a bad spot and then do what I did, just making the hole even harder. But the good thing I was able to bounce back quickly and make birdie on 10 and I really feel like I should have made birdie on 11, left the putt just barely short and made birdie on 12. So I was kind of able to ride that, kind of get going on that back nine.