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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIPMay 7, 2014Patrick ReedPONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA Q. I don't know how many times you've watched this on TV, but the atmosphere at 17, especially on the weekend with the leaders coming up, 20,000 people around there, is that something that when you saw that you wanted to be a part of one day, get out there and get in that environment? PATRICK REED: For sure. This is one of those events that any golfer that plays professionally, amateurly, junior golf, everyone wants to be here. It's also one of those events that when you step up on 17, what you have to think about is, well, earlier this year I stepped up on 16 at Phoenix, and I haven't played here yet, so I wouldn't know, but there you're getting heckled no matter what just walking through the tunnels, and you have 500,000 more people it seems like around that one hole. You just have to put it in perspective. It's a great golf hole. It's probably the best short par‑3 I've ever played. I haven't even played in the tournament. I'll let you know how I really feel about it after the week. But yesterday I hit a really quality 9‑iron there and hit it to, I think, like eight feet. Hopefully I can do that the rest of the week. Q. You've had a lot of success on TOUR this year and at the end of last year. How do you think that winning against those fields will help you out here against this field this week? PATRICK REED: Whenever I won that World Golf Championship event I was playing against supposedly one of the best fields on TOUR for the past two years. 49 out of the top 50 players in the world were there, and to go wire to wire and play the way I did, it just gives me more confidence that I know I can compete and I know I can play with the best players. The thing is you have to go and execute. You have to have a good game plan. I had a great game plan that week, and I've had a great game plan every week I've played, and I've won. I've also had great game plans where I haven't played very well, and that's just because I haven't executed my plan. I feel like we have a good game plan this week, just when it comes down to it, hopefully we're playing well enough where coming down Sunday we have a shot. Q. Being a first‑timer, what advice have you sought out or gotten about playing the course here? PATRICK REED: I got a lot of advice when I was at home with Lee Trevino. I spent a day with him, and just a lot of those things, play to your strengths, play to the angles. This is an angle golf course. There's a lot of double doglegs. You have to know where to position the golf ball, and that's just one of those things I've gotten focused on, and hopefully at the end of the week, it works out. Q. You were a first‑timer at the Masters this year, and I'm sure the experience is one that was very much a learning experience. How impressed were you with Jordan Spieth, that he was able to go out there his first time and do what he did? PATRICK REED: Yeah, he just prepared himself better than I did before the week. I hit the ball I felt like closer than him all week. The problem is I was leaving myself above the hole, he was leaving himself below the hole. The first time I played that golf course was Saturday before Augusta. I've played it three times as an amateur in college, but every time I played was like in February. I mean, you're hitting hybrids and 3‑woods into 11. 13 was not reachable. 15 you didn't have a prayer. You weren't even thinking about going for it. You know, it was a completely different golf course, and I felt like it was just one of those things I needed to prepare myself better on my note‑taking on the golf course. I know what to do now. I felt like I hit the ball well and felt like I putted well, the problem was I didn't leave myself in good spots. It's just one of those things that I'll definitely learn from it, and hopefully next year if I get back there I'll be more prepared and know what to do. Q. Can you sense a feel or a difference at this golf tournament without Tiger here, and knowing he's not here, do you see that as an opportunity for you, or do you not even really think about that? PATRICK REED: You know, I honestly can't really think about that due to the fact that this is my first year playing, so I have no clue what the atmosphere was like when Tiger was playing last year or any years that he played here. Now, I know what the atmosphere is like when he's at other events. You feel it and you know when he's around because all of a sudden just a sea of people come. It's just that thing that you have to stay in tunnel vision and focus on what you're doing. I feel like I've done that really well, especially when he's been at events, and hopefully that's good success for me later on. Q. Jordan said in there that when he was growing up, it seemed like each tournament was about who can beat Tiger this week, and he feels it's not that way now, there's so many young players right now that aren't afraid to come out here and win. What about for yourself? The door is open for any star that wants to try to be the next guy. PATRICK REED: Right. You know, Jordan is right about that. I mean, I think a lot of us feel like, and I feel the same way, it's not who's going to come and beat Tiger or anything. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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