COGNIZANT FOUNDERS CUP

May 10, 2024

Mel Reid

Upper Montclair Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Joined now by Mel Reid after her second round here at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Up and down round in some pretty tough conditions. What was it like out there?

MEL REID: It was really tough. It was playing long today. It was cold. It was wet. It was windy.

Even the shots downwind were not going anywhere near as far. It was almost because of the cold, it was almost like a one and a half club difference.

Just quite hard to get your mindset into that especially when you've got 140 and hitting a 160 club. It's a grind out there.

I mean, that rough is very thick so it's wet, so you kind of need to hit fairways, which I didn't do a good job of today.

But, yeah, just grinded it out and managed to shoot level par.

Q. When it is tough like that and three bogeys on the front with only one birdie, how do you not let it spiral or get out of control? Picked it up with three birdies on the back, too.

MEL REID: It's tough. You just got to stay in each shot basically. I struggle a little bit when it's cold like this with my back. Like I know I don't really take quite as well as I would normally do in the warm weather. I've got accustomed to being in Florida. Warm weather girl now.

So, yeah, I know that so I kind of have to hit everything really, really hard. It's even like little things that people don't know, like keeping the driver face very, very clean. If it you have any speck of water on it it can get left or right and that's kind of what happened a little bit with us today.

Just not from bad swings just because of the water. But you just got to grind it out. It's not going to be pretty. Not everything is going to be perfect. You got to miss it in the right spots and try and make a couple putts.

Q. What's the relief feeling being at the top the leaderboard, making a cut, and getting the train back on the tracks? Been a bit of a struggle recently you said.

MEL REID: Yeah, missed the last two cuts and played terribly. It's funny, I don't feel I've played much different. It's weird.

Golf is a funny thing, isn't it? Sometimes things just -- you don't think you're doing much different and just in a completely different position. Golf can get away from you pretty quick if you get down on it.

Just trying to -- like I said yesterday, just trying to keep it a little bit more accepting out there. Not that I'm going to hit every perfect shot and be accepting of that. I think we've done a pretty decent job of that over the last couple days.

Q. With your back and knowing that the rotation might not always be there, do you try to swing a little bit shorter just to kind of keep it in -- especially out here it's is a fricking narrow. I can imagine the wet rough is challenging. Do you try it bunt it?

MEL REID: I do the opposite. I have to really rotate because I have a tendency not to rotate when my back gets stiff.

So I have to like super feel like I get kind of left shoulder way rotated and hit it as hard as I possibly can.

Because if I don't I kind of stop at the ball a little bit and don't catch it quite how I should.

So I literally have to feel like I'm swinging it so hard from the top. That's the on way I can get through it. The on thing I do as well, like when it's weather like this is move a little bit back in my stance to guarantee a strike.

Yeah, it's literally the opposite. You can't bunt it round here. You just got to smack it. You better off being in the rough a little bit further up than bunting it in the rough.

Q. Makes sense.

MEL REID: 20, 30 short.

Q. Just looking ahead, obviously plenty of golf to be played. Likely late tee time tomorrow. When you're dealing with this kind of conditions and dealing with being at the top the leaderboard, trying to get something going, what's the mindset? What do you do to try to get yourself in a -- maybe not an attack mode, but I can go get this golf course kind of aggressive mode?

MEL REID: The same thing really. I mean, I probably have a late tee times but be up early with Kai, so probably be -- probably not the freshest when I get to the first tee.

But I'll do my best. Yeah, I mean, you've just got to -- this is a golf course like I said yesterday, it can get away from you so you got to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens.

That's what you got to do. You just got to get kind of into the shot and just try and do your best you possibly can on that shot. You know there is a couple opportunities, like you got a couple wedges in your hand, couple par-5s you can get on and take advantage of those.

You've got some tough holes that you're trying just to scrape around with a par. So I think that's kind of the mindset, like know where the difficult holes are and know where the easier ones are so you can attack the easier one and be kinder to yourself on the hard ones.

Q. What would be the difficult holes out here?

MEL REID: Today there is a lot more. Definitely 3 can get away from you pretty quickly if you're not careful.

16 I think is win the hardest holes.

Even 1 is a pretty difficult hole.

I'm trying to think what else. I mean, they're probably the ones to be honest. I would even say like 14 is like sneaky hard just because if you miss the fairway there you got a pretty difficult layup.

Yeah, I mean, like I said it's just -- I think this golf course has kind of major potential if I'm honest. It's kind of that kind of beast. And especially today.

So, yeah. Just do our best tomorrow.