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HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONSJanuary 12, 2015Patrick ReedKAPALUA, HAWAII THE MODERATOR: Welcome and congratulations to our 2015 Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner, Patrick Reed. Fourth victory now still at the age of 24. Kind of what are you most proud of when you look back at this win out here at Kapalua? PATRICK REED: Just kind of how I handled it mentally, you know, being two back, and then Jimmy and a couple of guys‑‑ before I even teed off I saw Chris Kirk was like 9‑under through something, and I knew Jason Day was making a run and I knew Jimmy was getting off to a pretty quick start. And the main thing all week for us was stay patient, it's windy out here, give yourself looks for birdie and just try to make some putts. And early on I seemed to leave a lot of putts short, just didn't get them to the hole, and I think it all kind of just turned around when I hit a really good 3‑wood on the fifth hole, the par‑5. And I hit that shot, it was a club that Callaway and I have been working on, because we put a new ball into play. And that team, Team Callaway and I have worked so hard on figuring out that club, and it seemed to be a life saver this week, and I know I can't do it without Callaway and also with my family and my team behind me. THE MODERATOR: Just take us through obviously the 16th hole, the eagle there and then the playoff hole on 18 to win. PATRICK REED: You know, on 16, the best tee shot sets up perfectly for me, my little draw, and I've hit it great one there all day and every week, and I just striped it down the middle, and seemed to have the same distance all week, around 88 to 85 yards; and with the wind kind of hurdling a little bit, I decided to hit the 57 a little softer, because I knew if I hit anything in there with a lot of spin, it will spin off the front. And I heard the applause that it went in, and I didn't really see it, but I was able to see the highlights, I think it spiked pretty hard. Good thing it did because it would have been off the front. So luckily I made that there. And then in the playoff hole, I just to hit my low bullet draw off the tee, and I kind of hung back on it and watched it in the air, so it wasn't able to turn. And I think yesterday I did the same thing, hit it over there to the right. So I knew just hit 3‑wood down there and try to get up and down like I did on the third round, and you know, I gave myself a chance with the putt and I made it. THE MODERATOR: Take some questions for Patrick. Q. Patrick, can you talk about your nerves on the emotional roller coaster that it looked like you were on from 16, 17 and 18 where you, you know, you hole out, and quite honestly, I expect you to go berserk in the middle of the fairway, and you were very calm over that shot. Then on 17, you know, three‑putt, now you're back out and then have to come in on 18 to make birdie. How are you feeling inside as you're approaching each of those holes? PATRICK REED: Yeah, I mean I think it all really started back around I would say 13, because on hole 13, I had a really good birdie look, left it short. 14 I had a birdie look, short. Both of them were in the center of the cup, too. I mean those are the most frustrating. And I kept on saying to myself, be patient. You don't know what can happen. And I looked at Kessler and said, all right, let's try to birdie three coming in, and when we step up on 15, knowing how hard 17 is, thinking realistically that's probably not your birdie hole. And we were able to hit awesome 3‑wood there, knocked it on the green in two. Eagle putt left it short but tap‑in birdie, and I felt like I hit a good wedge shot on 18; and when I heard the roar and I knew it went in, I knew, okay, you can't get too hyped here because you have a chance. And so you know, I just stayed level headed and went to the next tee box, and after I made it, the only thing I was thinking about was hitting a good tee shot on the next. I was able to hit a good tee shot. And unfortunately I hit too good of a drive, left myself that gap that I don't really like distance wise. It's such a soft 5‑iron I have to hit from there, and normally I like just to rope it on 17 so you can get that roll left, and just kind of hung out there. Thought I hit two good putts, just didn't go in. I missed a lot of short putts this week, but the good thing is mentally I probably played a lot better and did a lot better this week than I have any other week. That's what allowed me to have a chance to win on Sunday. Q. You won three times in fairly short order, but it's been a while since then, and just maybe talk very briefly about after Doral, not really contending as much obviously, and then coming back here and getting yourself back in position. PATRICK REED: Well, really after Doral, I mean right after Doral I really wasn't thinking much about golf. I was making sure Justine was okay and we were about to have our first baby. My mind was more on making sure she was okay and making sure the baby was okay, and then I went through the transition on both of us trying to figure out fatherhood and golf at the same time, have that good balance. My game was still there. I just never put anything together. There was always one piece that would be missing. And you know, unfortunately there were some ups and downs there on my game, but I felt like I was improving, my stats were improving. Things in my swing were improving. It just wasn't showing yet, and I felt like now, later on in the year it started to show again, and now that we're rested, hopefully it will continue the good play that we are now. Q. Confidence wise, do you feel your play at Gleneagles boosted you to a different level? PATRICK REED: I mean my play at Gleneagles was awesome. You know, I live for that kind of stuff where I can go head to head against somebody and just go out and try to, you know, try to dominate the field. And you know, Match Play is just so much fun, especially at the Ryder Cup. When people say you've never felt anything like it, I mean it's so true. You know, to step up on a tee representing your country, going out and playing against one guy and trying to go get a point and help the team out, I mean it's just so much fun. And I felt like that helped me, especially with some of the shots I had in those pressure situations that I was able to try to carry that on throughout the rest of the year. And I felt like things are moving forward. I felt like this win was more I felt like on how Justine and I did the Mondays, because not only was it Monday, but it was 18 holes. It was pretty bunched, so you just had to go out and go low, and luckily we were able to do that. Q. Talk about playing one on one how you look for that. I'm curious when the last time you lost a playoff was. PATRICK REED: I don't know. I haven't been in many. I haven't lost one as a professional. I've only been in two, Jordan and Jimmy. But besides that, college there were no playoffs. It's been a while. Q. Did you know, Patrick, that you were four shots down on the 15th tee? PATRICK REED: I thought it was a lot. I didn't know how many it was. When I didn't make birdie on 13 or 14, I thought my chances were slim. So I was just thinking to myself, let's try to birdie three of the last four and get ourselves a chance to cure second along and give ourselves a chance just maybe. And then all of a sudden I made birdie on 15. And then when I holed out on 16, I walked to 17 tee, I heard that Jimmy was at 21 as well. I was like, oh, wow. And I heard Hideki was one back, and unfortunate for him he missed a short one on 17, but then I knew, okay, you have to birdie 18 to give yourself a chance and at least put a little bit of pressure on him, because if you don't birdie 18, he can just easily putt out hole to win, and luckily I was able to put a little pressure on him there and give me a little gift. Q. And secondly, being here last year, I'm just curious in your shot what you hit on 18 in regulation. Are you surprised it didn't get more further back? And ditto for the wedge you hit in the playoff. It didn't release more. Seemed like it was soft all week. PATRICK REED: Yeah. During the practice round I remember hitting 3‑wood and kind of roping it in there and it would release like crazy, and then I thought for sure that stinger 3‑iron on that last in regulation would definitely bounce. And I can't see how far away. I don't know if it landed in the fairway or if it landed just in that first cut in the rough. If it lands in that first cut, it's so spongy, it's just going to grab. So I'm guessing that's where it landed. You know, and then that wedge shot, even with how fast that green is, going from back to front, if it's howling into the wind, especially from 85 yards, it's taking a pretty aggressive swing at it, so I didn't expect it to really release much. I was just hoping I could land it kind of on that downslope and kind of skid it. And I guess I flew it just a tad too far and kind of grabbed on me. Q. Patrick, it always goes back to what happened after you won in Miami talking about where you thought you should be in the world. How do you feel now? Do you feel like you're at least getting the respect that you feel like you deserved after not only Miami but what you did at Gleneagles and now a win like this? PATRICK REED: I don't really think it's as much respect as it is I'm just going out there and just trying to play my game and trying to improve. There's a couple goals my coach and I and Justine have set, and we're just going to try to go out and get those and just improve day by day, and little things on the golf course with my game that I feel like I need to to become one of the top players in the world. But you know, that takes time, and you know, I've done a pretty good job the past‑‑ we won Wyndham, but there's a long way to go, so hopefully the team can move forward and go get it. Q. Can you share any of your goals? PATRICK REED: One of them is a multi‑win year. And it's just to make that percentage of Top 10s better. It just seems like last year I had‑‑ I either played really, really well or I didn't really play very well. And it's just to get that consistency better, and those are just things that we're working on with the mental game, with, you know, course management and just with the golf swing. And you know, it'll come around, and here's a little side note how I felt like I didn't really have all of the tools on how I was hitting the ball and how I was putting, but mentally and my game plan was really sharp this week, and that's what kept us in with a chance to win it. Q. On that note, outside you mentioned you've won PGA TOUR events, World Golf Championship, now Tournament of Championships. You played well at the Ryder Cup. Kind of that next step for you is to be competitive in some major championships, and I know you said that's also a goal for you coming in this year. PATRICK REED: Yeah, for sure. That just seems like that's one missing piece right now is just contending and trying to win a major. I was able to play in my first majors last year, and I was able to kind of see what they were like. I missed two of the cuts and I made two of the cuts, but on Sunday I wasn't even a factor, and that's the main thing for me is just keep improving in the golf and then in the majors have a chance coming down Sunday to at least make some noise. Q. Going back to Miami just very briefly, do you feel like winning here kind of backs up a lot of the things that you had done earlier last year that you needed in a way? PATRICK REED: Not really. Just kind of backs up what we're working or with my swing coach or with Justine, what we're trying to do in the long‑term and with my game, with full swing, with putting, with mental game, with course management, those kind of things. I mean winning here just kind of backs up that we're moving in the right direction and we're on the right path. Q. Where are you trying to get? PATRICK REED: I mean everyone is trying to get to the best in the world. But that's going to take a long time. It's nothing that happens overnight. That's for sure. Q. If you could just look between you and Rory, who's at the top now. How much it depends on you; how much of it depends on him? PATRICK REED: Really just becomes who wins the most and who's more consistent at the end of the day. And you know, the good thing about world rankings and all that, it's over a period of time. So you know, that's the main thing is Rory has been out here for a while, and you know, he's won a lot, and you know, that's why he's gotten to where he's gotten to. And for me, you know, it's a stepping stone. You know, winning another event, just you know, it gives me confidence, but at the same time I need to back it up with continued playing well and continue having a chance. Q. Two things. Justine's involvement, is it at all in regards to the swing? PATRICK REED: She's involved with everything. She's at every practice, every practice round. She follows me on every round. I mean if I'm on the road, she's my coach. My swing coach at home, you know, is Kevin Kirk. He's not here on the road. So when I start‑‑ if I start hitting some shots that spin, if it's going right, I tell her that, and she's standing on the range and she pulls out her phone and texts Kirk, and he tells her what to look at and she'll look at it and she'll find it. And now it's to the point she doesn't even have to text him. She can just be like this is what it is; you need to fix that. Q. And secondly, did you have an opportunity to think about what went wrong in majors this year and what you might need to do to try to alleviate that? PATRICK REED: Yeah. I hyped them up too much. Going into Augusta I was like, oh, no, it's the Masters; going into the British Open, oh, no, it's the British Open. Same thing with PGA, same thing with the U.S. Open. They're other golf tournaments. You just have to go out and play well. And at the end of the day, I mean it's so easy to say, so hard to do, but every round is the exact same. You go in, you just try to play your normal game, stick to your game plan. I mean like I said, it's so easy to say, it's harder to do. But that's just the main thing when it comes down to the majors. I just need to be a little more prepared going into them and not hype them up. Q. Patrick, how satisfying is it to win when you didn't have your best stuff this week? PATRICK REED: It's always satisfying to win. But you know, yeah, in golf aspect, I didn't feel like it was really there. I felt like today the driver was coming around, and the irons were decent. I wouldn't say they were great. The putter was, you know, was hot and cold. But you know, the reason why I was able to pull it off is mentally and the course management and the work with Kessler and everything was just so good this week that, you know, I was able to have a chance. Q. Patrick, can you talk about the new era of 20‑somethings, yourself, Jordan, Rory, Jason, Russell, Hideki. It really does seem that this is the new breed. Do you feel it's your time now? PATRICK REED: I wouldn't say it's our time. I think it's more just that we're growing up watching the golfers that we grew up our role models, and we're trying to become as good as they are, and at the end of the day you just have to keep on driving and try to play your game and I feel like that's where a lot of us are, not really caring as much on how other people play and more on, okay, what do we do well and how can we do it in order to play our game. Q. You're in a select few winning this many times before 25. I'm sure you know. Do you think it's just a matter of going out not being afraid or is it more to it? PATRICK REED: I think it's just because I'm stubborn. I don't really care. I go out there and just kind of focus on my golf game, and I don't really care what anyone else is doing or however anyone else hits the shot. I just know how I can do it, and you know, what works for me and what makes me‑‑ allows it to be more consistent under pressure. And I just think that's what it is for me. Q. Will you pick up a club next week? PATRICK REED: Oh, yeah. I'll be out here practicing. Yeah, we're staying here for an extra week. We're going to have our family vacation. Everyone is coming in town. We'll go out, hit some balls, probably play here a couple of times and just enjoy the beach and hang out with family. THE MODERATOR: Well, congratulations. Wonderful victory. Four wins by 24. Well done. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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