THE MODERATOR: Patrick, you've arrived here to the DP World India Championship as the Race to Dubai leader. Few events left. How does it feel at this point in the season coming into this event in India?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, you know, it feels great. It feels great to be in the driver's seat and be in that position. There a lot of work still to be done. With Eugenio and Rory right behind you you have to go out and play some solid golf this last stretch, but it's what we dreamed of.
You always want to be in this position towards the end of the year to have an opportunity to win. To be the man on top always feels great. It means a lot, but still a lot of work to be done.
THE MODERATOR: Absolutely. You were recovering a little bit of an injury a few weeks ago. How are you feeling? How is the body?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, body feels better. You know, didn't feel great when it happened, but at the same time, good thing is I have a great team at home. I was able to get home, rest, and get doctors on top of it to rehab and PT my way back.
The good thing is we're comfortable now where we can't injure myself anymore, so just go out there and play golf, play free. And, I mean, the good thing is knowing we're good to go.
THE MODERATOR: Good stuff. Best of luck this week.
PATRICK REED: Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. With the Race to Dubai ranking daily heating up, is this something you're conscious of while playing every round? How are you (indiscernible) the battle with Eugenio and Rory?
PATRICK REED: Obviously know where we stand, but I don't think about it when I'm out there playing. Golf is a mental sport. If you start thinking about things way in advance or things that are really not under your control, that's where the golf game can go the wrong way.
For me the biggest thing is go out there play each day, focus on each shot, and try to execute the best I can. If I execute them properly 70% of the time, then usually that would equate to having a chance to win on Sundays. These last three events I'm playing, if I put myself to have an opportunity to win golf tournaments late on Sunday, then hopefully it's enough to take care of itself?
You know, there is still too many events left to sit there and worry about what Rory and Eugenio are doing. I mean, with how elevated the points are in Abu Dhabi and how elevated they are in Dubai, it's still anyone's game.
Hopefully we can go out there and play some solid golf this week and try to separate ourselves a little bit more, but at the end of the day it's just about going out there and playing solid golf and allow the clubs hopefully to put yourself in position there late to have a chance to not only win this golf tournament, but hopefully the Race to Dubai at the end of the year.
Q. First visit. Thoughts on the course? How often have you come across a course like this? What did you think about it? What did you think you need to do to carry on and do the best you can while you're here?
PATRICK REED: First off, never come around a golf course like this before. It's one of those that it's completely different than I would expect. I came here, and looking at the yardage and stuff, was like, man, guys are going to shoot nothing. There is going to be so many birdies. It's really short. It's going to be a bunch of wedges. With how narrow the fairways are and how thick the rough is, I mean basically it's reload because it's in the jungle.
Because of that, it's a lot of irons off tees or 3-woods. You're having to play back, so the golf course is playing longer than what it says on paper. I mean, I forced myself today to allow myself to hit two drivers. Everything else was less than driver.
It's one of those golf courses it's going to be about positioning yourself, and also be patient. When you're hitting an iron off a tee, I mean, I hit 2-irons on par-5s off the tee, and you're hitting there like, all right, you're hitting this to put it in position. You don't have to hit it too hard.
I think that's going to be the biggest thing, is sticking to the game plan, being comfortable with that game plan, and actually going out there and executing because it's one of those golf courses that you get just a hair offline, you're going to be in trouble. You know, over-swinging will definitely do it. You start swinging harder, start hitting it a little bit more crooked.
No, the golf course is great. It's been a lot of fun. You have to be creative around here. It was the first time I ever played two par-5s backwards. I hit iron off the tee and 3-wood to the green. You just sit there and you're like, wait, this is the kind of stuff you do at home when you play your home course. Like when I play my home course it gets so boring playing it over and over again. You almost get too comfortable.
I'll go out there and play odd clubs only or even clubs or irons only. This one feels like irons only. Iron off the tee then what am I going to do from there going in.
So, yeah, it's a fun, unique challenge, and we're looking forward to it. Really looking forward to the next four days.
Q. (No microphone.)
PATRICK REED: Hit the fairway on 10 with driver, and then 18 I hit driver and hit that down the fairway as well. So, yeah, two for two on driver. That's good.
Q. (No microphone.)
PATRICK REED: No. Well, driver is always -- yes, driver will stay in the bag. I just wouldn't have anything to replace it with. I go 3-wood and I have interchangable where i go 7-wood or 2-iron. They th go the exact same distance, so for me I don't want to have two clubs in the bag that go the exact same yardage. It's like, if I do, it's like, okay, do I want to hit this one or that one.
So I'm going to stick with my normal setup. It's going to look pretty sitting in there, but not be pulled out. That's fine with me. Just kind of go out there and play the hole with what I feel like is the best way for me to go out there and attack it.
Yeah, the driver will get dusty by the end of the week. Just kind of sit in there.
Q. Good luck for the Race to Dubai title. I'm fascinated by the mindset about your shoulder injury. Top competitors and performers coming back from injury, especially for you at a time where that was so crucial. What sort of mindset do you go with? How trusting are you of your swing? How do you basically make a comeback is what I wanted to ask.
PATRICK REED: Well, mine was a little bit more of a unique situation. When I hit that root there in Wentworth I walked up to that the next shot and it was just kind of a soft flop shot. I couldn't support the club at all. My hand -- got to the top and felt like I was trying to swing a sledgehammer.
And because of that, and when I walked off the course the doctor started touching on my hand and just barely touching it and I was pulling away, like no, you can't. They thought I broke couple the bones being little bones in your hand. Obviously that would've been an injury that would've required probably surgery. Wouldn't have been a very good one.
So when I got home, doing the test and seeing the results and actually seeing the hand was okay and that everything was fine in the hand, it was more shoulder that I had a couple tears and injuries I had to deal with, it was more of a sense of relief.
That was more just rehab and PT and a lot of just kind of gym work and things to get it strong and back so it wouldn't get worse.
So for me, it was a little bit more unique because of the injury. Thinking the worst to now all of a sudden it ended up being a different issue, where it was just going to be couple weeks off of rehab and things like that rather than surgery.
It was more of a sense of relief that I can come out here and get going and playing again. For me I was itching about getting back and getting out and playing. Did I come back too early? Who knows. At the end of the day the good thing is I can't hurt it worse, and because of that, I have the confidence and the comfort level to come out here and execute and perform at the highest level.
But, yeah, I think the biggest thing on the mindset is it's obviously one of those that when I first started practicing you sit there and get a ball in the rough, okay, you kind of guard things. It's more of a mental thing.
Good thing is now I'm past that where I can go out freely and play and swing and not worry about it. For us, we feel like we're ready to go and things are fine.
Q. You have built up a reputation for one of the best short game players. You also have a reputation of even when you're not playing your best, you put up a score out there. Now, this one is a little bit out of personal curiosity plus for the week ahead as well. Your short game, it is repetition and technique? Is a mix of creativity and imagination? How receptive do you think DGC is from your round today to your exceptional short game?
PATRICK REED: Well, you have to have good technique and consistent technique in order to be able to execute and have a good short game, but you can't sit there and only be technical. There is some of that creativity and the mindset of seeing the shot and playing it that takes time, takes work, but it's kind of -- short game is kind of a mold. You need to have sound technique and fundamentals, but at the same time being creative and seeing different shots, seeing how to hit it.
I mean, you never get a perfect lie, right? You get some that are sitting down, some are some sitting up. Really no matter what anyone, says if the ball is sitting in the rough and there is grass behind the golf ball, no one can tell you exactly how it's going to come out. I couldn't sit there and tell you that this ball is going to come like this 100% the time.
It's an educated guess. The only way you can make a better educated guess is if I go out there and practice and putting in the hours and the grind and going out there and tossing the ball and just playing as they lie rather than when you're practicing everyone is always rolling the ball around giving themselves good lies.
I mean, everyone knows what it's going to do off a good lie. What happened when you get on the golf course when it sits down or sits funny. That's where the fundamentals take over and also where the experience of practicing it really kind of kicks in.
Q. Welcome to India. As a former LIV player, do you feel accepted on the tour? Obviously you're doing very well. A lot of golfers are not ready to welcome the LIV golfers. So how do you feel? And the current LIV situation.
PATRICK REED: I feel -- of course I feel welcomed out here. I feel like ever since I got on the PGA Tour and played out there and once I got my European card and DP World Tour status, I've come over and always supported this tour. Whether I played on the PGA or LIV, I always wanted to continue playing and supporting this tour. Being able to have the opportunity, I've done that no matter what tour I played on.
This year having status over here and fully playing on this tour only has been something I've really enjoyed, and i feel like the guys have enjoyed having me come over and playing. You know, just one of those things I don't feel any different.
I feel like the guys have accepted me from day one since the I've come over back in 2015. I think it was '15 when I first came over. Felt like I've been accepted since then. I can see how some of the guys would sit there and have an issue with guys coming over and just playing just the big events. I've come over and played everything from big events, small events, events in the middle. I've always cherished being a worldwide player. (Audio cut out) coming over and playing all the events. It's been fun.
I feel like it hasn't been any different for me.
Q. Thoughts on the current LIV situation?
PATRICK REED: I don't know. It's all up in the air. When it comes down to everything that's going on with LIV, LIV 2.0, things like that, I don't know enough about it and enough behind the scenes to really make a smart and educated comment or decision on that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much Patrick. Have a good week.
PATRICK REED: Thank you.
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