PIF SAUDI INTERNATIONAL POWERED BY SOFTBANK INVESTMENT ADVISERS

February 2, 2023

Patrick Reed

Royal Greens Golf and Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Solid start, 3-under in the blustery conditions. How was it out there?

PATRICK REED: Blustery for sure. It was just really windy out there, and early on I didn't really get that comfortable.

I hate No. 4 out here. I've come to realize that, that par-5. I seem to always hit the fairway, and I seem to always walk away with a par. Another day today, I had 5-iron into the green and three-putted that green.

Really can't really say a tale of two nines as much as I just really didn't make any putts on the front nine. Had two three-putts and turned at 1-over par, and then on the back nine I just kept hitting the ball solid and gave myself a little bit more opportunities and made the putts when I needed to.

Q. Four birdies on the back nine must feel quite nice.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, felt good. Back nine, especially when the wind started picking up more and more, it doesn't matter how much you practice in it, you just have to kind of go off the feels when you're out there.

I decided not to hit driver on 17 today and decided to hit 4-iron. I was thinking that that would kind of go 270, 275 downwind, and the next thing you know I almost go through the fairway at 310, 312.

Then earlier on that side, I hit a 4-iron from 180 into the wind. You have to know how to control the ball, not only left to right but also how high you hit it and how low because depending on what the wind is doing, it can make the ball go completely different distances.

Q. Yesterday you spent some time with three Saudi players. Two of them made their pro debuts today. Have you seen some growth since you first came here a few years ago?

PATRICK REED: Oh, for sure. The growth ever since we started has been huge. The golf course has improved every single year. The talent has gotten better every single year we've come back here.

You're just seeing more and more fans come out, as well. It just shows that golf is starting to grow here in Saudi, which is awesome, because that's really the ultimate goal is to help grow the game worldwide, and I feel like we're doing a great job coming here.

Q. The Ladies International in a couple of weeks is matched with the same $5 million prize purse as the men's this year for the first time. What do you feel about that?

PATRICK REED: That's amazing. That's a step in the right direction. I don't care if it's men or women playing golf, it's a hard game and it's an expensive game. You have just as talented ladies out there as you do men, and they go out there and they play, and they should be rewarded the same way.

For them to come here to Saudi and play this golf course (indiscernible) seems to just be bigger out here. I've played here when this golf course is very, very gettable, then you get a day like today where it's blowing as hard it is, it's hard to hit the ball close. You can hit greens but it's hard to get the ball close to the hole, and when you do get it close, six, seven, eight feet, the ball just never feels comfortable. The ball is always moving around.