Q. How would you sum up your week?
PATRICK REED: Frustrating, to say the least. Today was one of those days I felt like I didn't really do anything poorly, didn't really do anything spectacular, and it was hard to kind of get it around the hole close.
Hit a really bad drive on the 2nd. My brother-in-law is probably going to talk to me about my driving again because of it, but actually hit it so bad that -- I hit it so far left that I was in the creek. I was in the creek left of the cart path, like left of that road. I actually went opposite side and made par, hit 3-wood down the 8th and hit a wedge shot in there close and made the putt.
Hit a lot of quality golf shots that looked good that ended up okay, and just a complete misread on 16 and on that last hole. I'll blame Kessler on 18 on the putt because I was like, man, this looks really straight, and he's like, I am confident it goes right. It's a left edge putt. I started it left edge, and at the last second it crept a hair left and actually lipped out on the left side. I'll give him that one.
And 16 completely fooled us. I think those are the frustrating ones, when you go ahead and hit a really quality golf shot in there, you feel like you hit the putt right where you want to and it doesn't go in, it puts a bitter taste in your mouth.
It was just one of those days that seemed like it was hard this afternoon to go really, really low. There wasn't a ton of wind, but it was swirling all day I felt like. Welcome to Augusta, swirling winds. Because of it, I wasn't able to take advantage of the par-5s, which is -- it was a hell of a save I did on 2. But on 8, overcut the drive. It actually landed in the fairway, ended up going in the bunker. It's hard to make birdie from there.
I had 4-iron in my hand going into 13, hit it in the water, just barely right, and didn't draw off that huge hooking lie and was able to get that up-and-down for par.
Had 5-iron into the green on 15 and hit it 15 feet right of the pin and just over the green. It was in one of those spots that to go at the line to hit it -- to have a chance to make it, I would have had to putt through 12 to 15 feet of fairway or I would have to chip it and bump it and hope. So I went with the little bit more conservative line, hit a great putt, and hit the next putt exactly where I wanted to, and it burned the edge, as well.
It was kind of frustrating, a bunch of burnt edges. I felt like I played a lot better than the score, especially today. Today felt like -- besides the drive on 2, I don't think I hit another bad drive.
I hit the fairway on 1, fairway on 3, fairway on 5, fairway on 7. 8, it bounced into the bunker. Very easily could have -- it's a 50/50 ball that bounces either right or left when it's at that bunker, just left of that bunker, and of course today it had to bounce right.
Besides that, I don't think I missed another fairway.
It was kind of one of those days that I did a lot well and got nothing out of it.
Q. Even though it's frustrating, do you feel better about the game coming out of this week as when you went in?
PATRICK REED: I feel like I'm just in that stupid circle at the moment of doing a lot of things well, getting nothing out of it. Hit one or two loose golf shots here that cost you. When I played in Macau, which would have been the event I played before this, finished 4th, and then on Sunday, just by getting my putts to the hole -- I left four putts on the front nine short from eight to 13 feet. If I just get those to the hole and don't miss a shorty on 17 and don't miss a shorty on 18 that both lipped out, I shoot 57 instead of shooting 63. It was the most boring 63 of my life. Stuff like that that you want to sit there and just like -- it's just frustrating. You feel like you don't get much out of your round.
I used to be the guy that would hit it all over the place, and everybody was like, man, what did you shoot, 78, and I'd shoot 68. It seems like it's one of those right now that I should have shot 65, 66, 67, and I'm turning those into 3-, 2-, 1-under-par rounds. Game feels like it's better than it's been. I feel like I'm swinging it really well. I feel like I'm hitting a lot of really good putts. Just not getting the ball in the hole.
Q. Going to Australia, do you feel like that's a place -- the next two weeks that you play, you'll find something there maybe or results will start to turn your way?
PATRICK REED: I feel like I just need to keep on doing what I'm doing. It would be one thing if you're sitting there going, man, this is just really off, for one thing, but when you feel like you're doing some things really solid -- obviously the glaring thing I would say this week is taking advantage of the par-5s. I finally didn't hit it in the tree on 18 and still made bogey. It's kind of one of those things -- if I took care of 18, because I always told myself coming into this event and the year I won, you have to play No. 1, 17 and 18 well, and I would say this week, 18 I was 4-over par, had a double, two bogeys and a par, and then 17 I had a bogey from the middle of the fairway and got up-and-down the other times, but you sit there, and it's like -- played No. 1 over par, as well, 1-over par. It's just kind of one of those things. You take care of the first hole, which is obviously a momentum hole, and then you take care of 17 and 18, which are obviously momentum going into the next day, so those are important. Unfortunately this year I didn't play those particularly well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports