THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Patrick Reed from 4Aces GC, the solo clubhouse leader at 5-under. Patrick, you played an incredible, as we just said, 17 holes of golf today. You were dominating out there. You were completely stomping the rest of the field. I don't know if you've had a chance to look at the scores, but there's only one team that finished under par today. It was brutal out there. How did you play such a dominating round?
PATRICK REED: It was just steady golf. I was driving it well and felt like I had pretty good control of my irons. Really at the end of the day, the putter was working. Starting on the back nine there, to be able to knock it on the green there on 10 and 2 to have a stress-free two-putt birdie to start the round always helps. Then I go and miss the green on 11 but able to get it up-and-down on there, and from that point on, I think my next missed green would have been, man, 3.
So to play the back nine and hit that many greens and just kind of giving myself opportunities, whether they were good ranges or even long ways away, not having to chip around this place makes it easy, so I felt like I had a lot of control of the golf ball, and to be able to get up-and-down -- anytime I did miss a green except there obviously on the last, but just trying to plot myself around this place.
I know how hard this place can get. When the wind blows here, it's nerve-racking. You get out there and you get a gust, it seems like the wind kind of switches directions a couple times while you're out there, and you just had to stay committed to what you're doing and hit quality golf shots and hit the ball solid, and I was able to do that today.
Q. It looks like the wind forecast for the rest of the weekend is going to be pretty similar. Does that make you nervous heading into the weekend? Any key learnings heading into the weekend?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, don't hit it pin high left on 9. That's not a good spot. That's what I learned today. The biggest thing is, though, just go out and play steady golf. With the wind blowing hard, you're able to kind of figure out what the wind direction is. When this place gets light and variable, that's when it gets tricky to figure out the yardages and figure out what the ball is playing.
If the wind is going to keep on pumping, that just means you have to hit the ball solid. You have to make sure your course management is locked in, and I feel like we have a good game plan. If you hit quality golf shots and give yourself opportunities, you're going to make some, so that's the biggest thing is to go out there and give myself chances.
Q. The 4Aces obviously have had a lot of success at the Blue Monster before. You guys are currently in second place at even par. The Crushers are the only team ahead of you at 2-under. Dustin had a great day today, as well. Do you think the 4Aces can make a return to glory this week?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, I mean, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to get back to our old ways, back to winning golf tournaments. We were close last week, and I feel like coming into here, this is a great golf course for us. We like hard golf courses. I feel like that's where we thrive.
That being said, there's a reason why it's called the Blue Monster. It's a beast. You have to go out there, play solid golf, and trust every shot and go down swinging. We were able to do that.
Q. Obviously a lot of talk this week about this course being Masters prep for you guys, how it requires you to use every shot in the bag and requires patience and precision. Do you feel like this is a good course to prepare you for next week?
PATRICK REED: It's definitely getting there. With how fast the greens are getting, especially with that wind and having to play big breaks on putts, it's like Augusta. Hitting 20-footers where you're trying to hit it eight feet and just watch the ball roll, that's what you're going to get next week.
Next week you have a lot of undulations, kind of different types of lies, but you have to hit the ball really solid to put the ball in the right spots and here you have to hit the ball really solid to keep it out of the wind.
Yeah, there's some similarities on things you need to do throughout your game, but I can't really think about next week. This week is hard enough -- this golf course is hard enough to you have to think about this place before you get to next week.
Q. When you were on the PGA TOUR, you were playing well over 20 tournaments a year. Now with a reduced schedule, how do you keep the competitive juices going? How did you prep for this with a week off before it?
PATRICK REED: Well, I mean, if you look at my schedule, I started at Dubai Desert Classic in January. I played five straight, had two weeks off, three straight, and then I had a week off. Then now here and then Augusta. I play a lot either way. I averaged over -- I average 31 to more events a year. At this time since January, I've already played -- this will be nine events basically Augusta will be. That's a pretty good schedule.
For me personally, I want to play, so I kind of play my way into form rather than being at home grinding. When I'm at home, I just go through too many wedges, too many golf clubs because I grind too much at home. So I'd rather be out here and get tournament ready rather than just golf swing ready.
Q. It's hard to imagine that this is the first time you've had the solo lead in a LIV Golf event. When you first started out, I think your second start at Bedminster you had the lead, shared the lead with Stenson. Did you feel like this was coming, especially the form that you've showed lately?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, my golf game feels solid. These guys are good out here. It's one of those things that even when you feel solid you might not get the lead right off the bat, but you have 54 holes; you have to play well the next two days, and all that really matters is late Sunday if you have a chance to come down the end.
I put myself obviously in a good spot after today, but really the only thing that matters is come that back nine on Sunday.
Q. Obviously you've won here before in 2014. What is it about this course that you really like?
PATRICK REED: It's hard. You have to hit golf shots. It's hard. You can't really just sit there and -- you have to think your way around this place. The greens are only going to get firmer and faster like they do every time we play here, and that being said, it's going to require putting the ball in the right spots, having control of the golf ball, and if you get out of position you have to have some creativity with short game. I feel like with that type of game, that's kind of a course I like. I don't like ones that you have to go out and shoot 30-under par. I'd rather ones that you have to go out and grind and go out and couple under par is a good score a day.
Q. You talk about getting tournament ready; how do you prepare for your game to peak at these events? Getting ready, what does that process look like for you?
PATRICK REED: Really the process for me is just go out and make sure that my speed is right on my putting, do a lot of maintenance on the putting but mainly full-swing drills, hit different golf shots because stepping on the range you're just hitting the same type of 7-iron or 8-iron over and over again. You very rarely get just a stock number out there. Being able to hit different shots, being able to move it around and just a lot of one-time shots rather than sitting there and putting everything on auto.
For me, yeah, it's go out and focus on -- you have one opportunity to do each shot and kind of like a round of golf and try to get above 70 percent.
Q. I was just wondering if you could talk to us a little bit more about what happened on the last hole and what you think you can improve on a little bit more.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, I had the worst yardage possible. I felt like if I hit hybrid it's too much, but then 4-iron I'd have to start it almost over the water and try to hook it back, but the wind was in off the left, and I tugged it left, obviously, because you can't go right. Ended up just kind of getting where everyone walked off the green, just left of the bunker, and ended up in a little depression sitting down, and from there, it was like, okay, are you going to keep this in the bunker, and if it gets on the green, does it stop or does it go all the way over and go in the water because that bank is kind of shaved.
Yeah, it was just one bad swing that put me in a really bad lie, in a bad spot, and it happens. Now it's just kind of bounce back for it going into tomorrow.
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