MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2022

Patrick Reed

Quick Quotes

Q. I have good tee shots, but things --

PATRICK REED: Just kind of one of those things. I would say three out-of-body experiences on some golf shots and then didn't make anything. I think my last putt I made was six feet, and then on top of it I guess I have to figure out that my 7-iron goes farther than my 6 and 5-iron because to see a couple of those shots hit that I was posing on 10 and see it go back edge of the green and land back there, and then same thing on 16 to hit the 7-iron just barely left of the flag and thinking it's going to be either really good or down the ridge short, and to watch it sail the green and into basic no-man's land, you can't do things like that. There's enough good there, but, unfortunately, there's too much bad.

Q. You have the experience here to know that there are good days and bad days here. You can win, bottom line.

PATRICK REED: It wasn't really the start I wanted, obviously, to shoot 2-over par, but at the same time to shoot 2-over par, I feel like I got absolutely nothing out of the round and to really sit there and think that three 57s and a 9-iron were four of my bogeys, which for a guy who is really good with his wedges, that's unacceptable. Even worse to make par with those. There's four shots just really quickly like that and that's compared to 2-over rather than 2-under.

Q. Can you tell us about your experience on 11 is and 15? How you navigated the change --

PATRICK REED: On 15 with it being into the wind, it was an automatic three-shot holer for me. It was just kind of a layup. It was kind of a stress-free par, but I would have loved to hit the wedge shot a little closer.

When I stepped up on 11 tee and feeling that straight back into the wind, I'm sitting there going, this is going to be a bear. Then I get up there in the fairway, and I hit a perfect drive. I get up there in the fairway, and I have mud on the right side of the ball, and my ball is in a divot.

I'm sitting there going, this is unbelievable to have 205, 210 into the wind off the right with mud on the right and out of a divot. At that point I'm, like, let's just keep it on land. Ended up hitting a great golf shot in there to 15, 17 feet. Had a great look for birdie and just burned the edge.

Q. When all the rain we've had the past couple of days and with none in the future forecast, do you expect the course to play more difficult?

PATRICK REED: It's definitely going to firm up. I wouldn't think it would get as hard as it was on Monday. Monday I played, Monday afternoon, and the greens were almost purple. They were so bouncy and firm. It was hard holding wedge shots and iron shots. Today was a day they could go out and attack. It was receptive enough to be a little bit more aggressive and attack the golf course, but that's the thing about this place. You start being aggressive at this golf course, it can really bite you. Just firm up the as the days go on, and I was very impressed with how much rain we had yesterday and the day before how the only time I really had any mud was that one on 11, and, of course, it happens on 11, but besides that, the golf course was playing and holding up really well. You just have to go out and attack it.

Q. There weren't a ton of low numbers today. Going forward, is that where experience on this course -- does that come in handy for you?

PATRICK REED: It does. This golf course, it's hard. Even in perfect conditions and softer golf course, it's hard to go out and just really shoot a really low number because you have to be careful of every golf shot. Once you start adding wind, especially wind when it starts kind of swirling out there this afternoon, it just seemed to just make it a little bit more difficult to get it really close.

Q. With the full compliment of patrons for the first time in a couple of years, does it feel like 2018 again?

PATRICK REED: I love it. It does. To have all the fans out and have everyone out here and just seeing everyone out here with all the support that's out on this golf course, and it's just unbelievable. Hearing the roars again from when you are on hole 1 or 2 and you are hearing it come from somewhere else on the golf course, you hear it echo through the trees. It's unbelievable.

Q. The shots that you were questioning, the 7-irons and -- were those out of fairway?

PATRICK REED: Well, one was off tee. One of them was 16 tee. Then the other one was from a fairway too. They just decided to go a long way, but besides those two, I mean, let's be honest, it was a bad iron shot on 4 that caused a bogey, bad tee shot on 5 into the fairway bunkers where I had to lay up which caused a bogey. But then after that it was just whether it was distance control and a couple of wedge shots that just weren't hit where they were supposed to.

Q. Having I don't want to say a bad day because 2-over is not necessarily a bad day. It's not great, but it's not going to put you out of the tournament.

PATRICK REED: Right.

Q. Does it matter to you that you know this course well enough that you have won here that versus if you went someplace elsewhere you didn't have much knowledge, another major where you maybe didn't have as much knowledge?

PATRICK REED: Experience is everything around this golf course. When I go out and I play here, you kind of know with certain pin placements, certain conditions what the leader is going to shoot so you know if you are keeping yourself in it or what.

Honestly today even though the wind was swirling, I honestly thought someone was going to go a lot lower than they did. It was out there today. But it doesn't matter if it's firm or fast or soft and wet. It's always the same holes that seem to be the ones that play tough, and they decided to do all of it on top of it. They put the tough holes with the tough pins.

5, that top left pin on the left is just -- I don't care if it's downwind blowing 40 or into the wind, that pin is hard. I think it's things like that and just using that experience to know, all right, let's limit any mistakes as much as possible and try to go out, and there's birdies out there.

Q. One other thing, on 11 is the experience that you used to have on 11 pretty much gone because it plays so much differently?

PATRICK REED: Not really. Honestly, I think it allows me to kind of free up that tee shot a little bit because it used to be -- I used to just always hit in the right trees, and now it's a little wider. Can kind of see the shot a little better this year, and still the same approach.

Even though it's a little longer, you still have that same look with the pond on the left. There's hills on the right. At that point it's just if you get too aquatic off shots, it's still going to play about the same.