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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

May 31, 2018

Mel Reid

Shoal Creek, Alabama

Q. What happened late in the round today?
MEL REID: 17, I kind of got my -- the lay-up over there is really, really rough. I probably just got a little bit ahead of myself. I was thinking about whether to get a good lie or not on the fairway. I ended up missing the fairway and then kind of got a semi-fly coming out of there. You can't really go long left there. So that was big.

Then 18, I literally just tipped it a little bit and had an awful lie in the rough. I only had 127 front, but with that lie I just couldn't really go for it. You just can't switch off in a U.S. Open.

Q. How was the course?
MEL REID: I mean, I have got to give them credit. The staff here have done an exceptional job to get it in the shape that it is.

I'm not going to lie, there's certainly mud balls on pretty much every single shot. It's not ideal, but what can you do. You just got to get on with it. You are going to have girls that do complain about it. It's just the way it is. It's the same for everybody.

It's playing extremely soft. You are not getting any run out of anything. For me, I carry my driver quite far. It's an advantage for the longer hitters who carry it in the air. The greens will get a little bit scuffed up this afternoon just because it's soft.

The green staff have done a remarkable job. I didn't think it would hold up as well as it has done.

Q. Given how much rain over the couple of days, are you surprised you were able to get out and play the round?
MEL REID: I actually thought they were going to let us have a day off yesterday and then play us on Friday and go through to Monday.

But I mean, it was exceptionally wet yesterday. I kind of felt bad that we were on the course. They were literally allowing players and caddies, that's it. No coaches or anything on the course. There's certain areas that really are quite damaged. You're chipping on pretty much casual water, but you are not getting casual water. So the easiest way to figure that out is to just hit greens. You have to hit greens and you don't have to deal with all that. You have got to be striking it well and try and stay out of the messy areas as much as possible.

Q. Did you have to change your strategy at all?
MEL REID: Not really. Me and Toole played practice rounds this week, Ryann O'Toole, and we're pretty competitive human beings, as you can imagine.

Yesterday we literally said, look, we kind of played up on Monday, but then yesterday we were like, let's just play it down. Let's get the mud balls and just kind of deal with it. And I honestly think that's one of best things we could have done. It wasn't a surprise to us today.

I mean, you have just got to -- you are going to get mud balls. You have got to accept it. It's going to cost you one shot. But it's going to be the same for everybody. Whoever deals with it the best is going to have the better outcome.

Q. Were you watching the leaderboard at all today?
MEL REID: I'm a bit of a leaderboard watcher. I got to 4 and I thought, here we go.

You just can't switch off. I didn't really hit a bad shot coming in. I hit it really, really good today. You cannot switch off in a U.S. Open. I actually love this golf course and you kind of feel that you can switch off a bit. The way that pins are, they are on slops. They are snapping at the hole and stuff, so you cannot switch off.

Q. On the chips and pitches from the very wet lies, do you change your technique at all?
MEL REID: You have to. For me, you have to do change it. If it was into the grain, you have to use the bounce and then stand up a little bit.

But I mean, Kris and Gaby, they had a couple of really soggy, wet lies which cost them both a couple of shots which it kind of sucks obviously for them. Yeah, I mean, you do have to change it a little bit. You can't putt it because it's so wet. You just have to hope that you are not -- you are going to get a couple this week that you need to accept that.

Q. How much were you paying attention to the rankings with you and your International Crown coming up?
MEL REID: Yes and no really. I just changed coach probably the last three or four weeks. So I have tried my hardest to stay in the process. It's a bit cliche to stay in the process. I have changed a lot in the last three weeks. I have busted my ass hitting balls. Never worked so hard. I don't know how he's managed to get me working so hard, but he's managed to tap into something.

Yeah, I mean, if I play as well as I feel like I'm going to in the latter part of the season, hopefully it will take care of itself. England has got a good team as it is. Charlie, Jody are a playing great. Obviously there's Georgia. Even if I'm not in it, they are going to have a great team. Obviously I want to put these little puppies out of it and get me back in it. I'll do my best and throw in a few good results and get myself in it.

Q. What have you changed with your coach?
MEL REID: Pretty much everything. I kind of have changed a lot with my golf swing. It's really difficult to explain to media. But I just wasn't getting the consistency at the ball that I would have liked. When I say I put hours, I have literally been busting my ass off. We did a lot of work even last Monday, which would have affected today. Like the work that I have done Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday will affect next week. I need to keep that in mind. I'm hitting it so great Wednesday, and it won't have any effect the next day. It's kind of a week after.

Jorge has kind of got me to be consistent and hard work. People talk about my ability or whatever they want to talk about, but if you don't put the work in it, it doesn't get shown. That's what I feel has been my issue the last few years. He's somehow tapping into something in me that I never thought I had. He's doing a good job.

Q. Who is new coach now?
MEL REID: Jorge Parada.

Q. This has been a tough year for you so far?
MEL REID: Uh-huh.

Q. Is there just a certain confidence that hard work has given you in a pretty good start today?
MEL REID: Obviously my confidence hasn't been great. Missing cuts is not going to be great. I say this a lot, like the talent, the strength and depth out here is getting stronger and stronger every year. You can't switch off. If you are over par, you are missing the cut. But the work that we have done and the hours that we have put in is making me confident, because I now feel that it's getting to a place now where I have hit so many balls it's becoming a habit than what it was if I had only done a couple hours a day. I'm kind of enjoying working hard. It's funny -- not that I've ever been lazy, but I have kind of worked hard sporadically. A week here really hard and then eased off a week.

With him, he's like there's no point busting a whole day and the next day not wanting to practice. So we have kind of -- like I said, I don't know. I feel like he's tapped into something and something is clicking. I don't think it's clicked yet, but it's certainly going to click. I trust what he's doing. Hopefully we can have a much better start from now to the rest of the season. Can't really get much worse than what it has been. It's only going to go up, I think.

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