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HUMANA CHALLENGE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CLINTON FOUNDATIONJanuary 17, 2014Patrick ReedLA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: We would like to welcome Patrick Reed to the media center. Patrick, back to back 63s. Talk about what was going well for you today. PATRICK REED: The main thing was yesterday I didn't really get off to a hot start with the driver. To start off the day with hitting a perfect drive on the first and second hole out there, because they're very narrow and hit the middle of the fairways gave me a little bit of extra confidence in that club. So I was able to attack and be more aggressive off the tees. Whenever you start with hitting a soft sand wedge to four feet on the first, tap in birdie, it just is one of those things that you just carry that momentum straight through and it was a 63 today. But that back nine I had two pars on the par‑5s that I was in the middle of the fairway, perfect position, I had a 4‑iron in one hand and 3‑iron in the other and walked off with two fives. And then also had a pitching wedge from the middle of the fairway on the second hole, which is my only bogey of the tournament so far. I was a yard short of where it needed to be. So there's things that I can build onto for sure, play a little better and go lower, but at the same time the way I'm playing right now is ‑‑ I'm very pleased. MARK STEVENS: Okay. Questions? Q. You mentioned the driver yesterday that you maybe weren't as confident on a couple of shots out here. Were you more confident over there because the holes shaped better for you, or were you more confident because you did something that you went out to the range and worked on it? PATRICK REED: When I woke up this morning I started hitting some drives on the range, they were going pretty straight. I think that just, your mindset when you go over to play La Quinta, there's so much more narrow fairways than there are here, so you're really focusing on small targets. And I just got off to a good start hitting it, so I built confidence through the first two holes. The second hole out there I think the fairway is only like 10 yards wide where it's landing. And I hit it dead straight. It was probably the straightest shot I ever hit. It was on that hole for sure. It was dead straight and right down the middle. And that allowed me to keep going for the rest of the day. Q. And then you got on that little hot streak. Birdie, eagle, birdie. Those two par‑5s back to back there at 5 and 6, you salivate when you see them? Or do you just think that get your birdies and get out? PATRICK REED: It's one of those things that it all depends on where the flag is. When I hit that tee shot, that tee shot on 5's not easy. That first par‑5, you have to hit a perfect high cut around that tree and if it goes straight, you're actually through the fairway, you have to hit a hook around those trees. And when I hit a perfect drive like that, had a perfect number for a 5‑iron to the left flag and when I hit something three quarters or 85 percent it's normally a little draw. So I just aimed it in the middle of the green and hit it up to there to four feet. That was kind of just perfect for me. Q. How long was the second shot? PATRICK REED: I think it was like 212. 214. And then the second par‑5, it's‑‑ that's one of those holes that where they put the flag is, it's really hard to get that second shot close. I thought I hit a perfect iron shot there and ended up a yard short in that bunker. But my bunker game to me is probably the best part of my game. So, to be able to hit that bunker shot out there to three feet, I mean I was more looking at trying to hole it than really walk off with four. Q. We kind of have become immune to some of these scores out here. Year in and year out. But, to go out and shoot two 63s, what is that like and how does that feel, knowing that those don't come every other week on TOUR necessarily. How good does it feel to be able to do that on consecutive days? PATRICK REED: It's great to have that feeling that you can go out and shoot 63. And to actually do it two times in a row shows that what we have done during the off season and what we're doing now is working. This golf course is going to give up low numbers, but at the same time, yes, it will give up low numbers but to go out there and do it two days in a row, it's tough. The good thing is even though we're playing great, I feel like there's still room for improvement out there while I was playing. Today I felt like there was three shots out there, yesterday I thought there was one or two out there. So there's still room for improvement, which makes me feel better, because then I feel like I can step up on the tee tomorrow and feel like okay, 63 is not out of reach. Q. How often do you come out of a round going over the round like you just did with a shot here or there, how often do you come out of a round where you're happy with everything you did? PATRICK REED: Never. (Laughter.) I can't really say never. There's always, I feel like there's always room for improvement. And that's why I feel like we have worked really hard in this off season and what we're really going to gain for this year. Especially with this new program that we're using, shotstohole, it's one of those things that not only does it show you where you are on TOUR average, and what your percentages are and everything, but you also can move a scroll bar and it will let you know how many strokes around you're going to save every round. So allowing me to dial down and really what I need to work on to consistently come out here and shoot low numbers. That's key. Q. At this point you said yesterday you're playing this as four tournaments. Four different days. You've been at the top of the leaderboard for the first two days. Does it change anything that you are doing in terms of your approach to this or are you still thinking Sunday is when you really start thinking about the tournament, the leaderboard? PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's still the same thing. Because there's some guys on that leaderboard that have not played the same courses I have. And you can't really judge yourself off everybody until everyone has played all of the same, all the courses together. So after tomorrow, that will be the determining on really what we can sit down and look at the tournament and see what we have to do for that final round. But what I'm doing so far is working, 63, 63, so we're just going to stick to that game plan and stick to our notes and hopefully close it out. Q. Nicklaus Private tomorrow. Any thoughts on that golf course going into it? PATRICK REED: It's a great golf course. They're all a little different. That one seems to be one of those that fits my game. I thought for sure that that was going to be the one that fit my game the best. And we obviously ‑‑ the other two fit my game pretty well if I'm walking off with 63s. But tomorrow I'm going to go in doing the same thing I did going into today and same thing I did going into the first day, stick to my notes, stick to my game plans, if I don't have to hit driver and I can hit an iron off the tee, then I'm going to hit iron off the tee. Just because, whatever allows me to get on the green is key for me, because my putter is really working. And I feel like I hit a lot of good putts today, missed a couple, but at the same time I made some. And as long as I keep doing that, come Sunday, we'll see. Q. You made a couple references to the work that you put in in the off season. Were there particular facets of the game that you were concentrating on or was it just a general get better at everything? PATRICK REED: I always try to improve in everything, but it was mainly on putting, with speed, make sure my speed's right, because that, I mean if you have the same speed on every putt's it's going to be easier to read greens. And not only that, but control the tee shots. Whether it's driver off the tee, iron, or 3‑wood, it doesn't matter. Just to be able to get more confident, be able to position the golf ball where I need to to have the best chance of making birdie. MARK STEVENS: Thank you for your time, Patrick. Good luck. PATRICK REED: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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