SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

January 7, 2022

Patrick Reed

Plantation Course at Kapalua

Quick Quotes

Q. 9-under 64, good bounce back after the first round. Take me through it.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, I think the biggest thing that sets me apart from today yesterday is I had five penalty shots yesterday basically. When you do that in the first 10 holes you're going to put yourself behind the 8-ball. Through 10 yesterday I was 4-over and through 10 today I was 4-under.

So it's just kind of one of those days I got the ball in play off the tee and from that point I was able to attack with the irons and really just had to trust myself that you can hit these putts harder. The greens just aren't quite at the speed that they normally are, really couldn't get them to because of how much rain they had here in the past, and because of that you have to be aggressive, especially on the uphill putts.

I was able to do that today, make some solid putts and just really kind of get the round going.

Q. Always a good calendar year when you start in Maui. Talk about how excited you are to be back here?

PATRICK REED: So excited. To have the success I've had here just in general and really to win at such a hard place last year and just jump start the year here where, for the most part the weather is always pretty good. You might get some wind, maybe a little drizzle here and there, but temperature-wise it's perfect.

It's a great place to see how the game is and really kind of fine tune yourself to just jump start the whole year.

Q. Great round today. What do you do to keep that going for the rest of the week?

PATRICK REED: Really the biggest thing is just, I mean, I feel like yesterday, honestly, yesterday I feel like I hit the ball fine, I had a couple loose shots that ended up being penalty shots. And I think the biggest thing is kind of do the same thing as today, get the ball in play and really in the fairway and attack from there, because this is one of those golf courses if you're playing from the fairways, I feel like I'm hitting my irons solid, that I can really attack this place and get the putter going.

So really just kind of do the same thing over and over again, just kind of stay with the process and hit the ball in play and attack from there.

Q. Normally we would be saying what a difference a day makes, but this isn't a day, it's a day and a half. So let's go back to 10. Can you let us in on a little chat maybe you had with yourself, what do you say to yourself when you're walking off 10 yesterday and how did you get this thing turned around?

PATRICK REED: Honestly, I actually had to have that talk a lot earlier in the round, I had that talk on 6 tee yesterday where, just felt like with the swing changes that and Lead and I have been working on throughout this off-season I felt like when I got here, those first, five six, holes I was playing too much golf swing. And when you start playing golf swing and the wind's kind of blowing a little bit, you can't play golf swing around here it gets you in some trouble. I hit some really squirrely ones early and kind of cost me five, really five dropped shots just in the first 10 holes.

And I just told myself, hey, just go back to kind your simple swing thoughts you had the last couple weeks. Because, I mean, at home I was hitting every fairway, hitting the ball well, was feeling really confident with it. Hitting that tee shot on 12 yesterday, right off of contact I just, Kess said, Finally, because it felt like I actually got the swing kind of where I wanted it to be and it just kind of stuck.

When you're playing from the fairway on this golf course it allows you to attack and really for me playing from the fairway and then attacking the greens, having wedges in your hands, especially late in this round you're able to really go low if you get the putter working. I felt like just from that point on I had to be aggressive on the greens, but at the same time had to be a little more conservative off lines on tees because I started getting a little bits too aggressive.

Q. Talking about trust new moves, keeping it simple, but you hit 25 of 26 greens and you're 12-under par (sic). Does that allow you to just keep it simple the rest of the way and take this attitude to the tee tomorrow?

PATRICK REED: Oh, for sure. I feel like my irons have been, have been solid. Irons haven't been an issue, it's more the driver swing, when I try to hit it hard that the swing kind of gets a little iffy, to say the least, and especially around this place. The hardest thing I feel like off the tee around this place is it's not that it's hard to hit the fairways, it's that they're so wide that you almost try to hit too hard and then you get the big miss.

So really sat down with my coach last night and we're like, take some conservative lines off the tee tomorrow, make quality golf swings and use slopes to get the ball to the spot you're trying to get it. Don't try to take that aggressive line where you have very small margins.

And I was able to do that today and put myself in the right spot and just kind of plod myself around this golf course and let my wedges and putter do the work.