Q. You had a lot of --
PATRICK REED: The bunker shot on 5.
Q. That was pretty hard to beat.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, my third shot. I hit the tee shot in the left bunker, it was too close to the lip, I chunked it from there into the front part of that left bunker, had 40 yards and no green, and I hit it to four feet pin high. That one. Or the flighted 5-iron I hit on 18 that didn't leave the flagstick and ended up 12 feet behind the hole, 13 feet behind the hole. I didn't make the putt, but the golf shot was just quality.
Q. 17 holes, given this wind --
PATRICK REED: Solid golf, yeah.
Q. That's about as good as you've played since when?
PATRICK REED: I don't know. In Macau I was hitting it so well. I just didn't make anything.
Q. Given the fact that the wind and you're five shots better than anybody else --
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's one of those golf courses, if you're on and you're putting it in the right spots and you make some putts, you can go low. But the thing is you can make one poor golf swing, it can really hurt you. It showed. I thought that ball was going to be in the bunker and it landed just short of the bunker and kicked it left because it was drawing and got past it. So if it actually caught that bunker, the worst you're looking at is bogey, but where it ended up you're looking at who knows.
Yeah, if that lie was decent, like just normal grass, it wasn't hitting in a hole over there left, I could have just thrown that on to the green with a flop. But with how it was sitting, there were so many bad situations that could happen with one of the options probably to make par. That was one option that I had, but it had to be perfect or it could bring water into play. I just had to try to hit the explosion purposely chunked flop and hope it goes the right distance, and it was a foot and a half to two feet too short. Yeah, anytime it hits in those lips and comes backwards towards you in a bunker, it's just going to push that sand up against it and you're hitting a bunker shot running away short sided and you don't have a clean lie so you can't stop it. It was unfortunate, but at the same time, it was solid golf.
Q. You never seem like you're forcing the issue --
PATRICK REED: That's the thing I've realized in golf is when you try to force it, it never happens, never works. Just go out there, let go, let all the prep, let all the work that I did previously coming into this, just let that be what carries me throughout because you more you try and push it, the more it fucks you. And guess what, it can, especially around here because this is one of those places that if you get aggressive and you try to take stuff on that -- and you try to push it too hard, you can make big numbers in a hurry. This is one of those places kind of like Augusta, you have to kind of let it go, play smart and just let the rounds come to you.
That's why I love this place because once you go, I have to get this one, next thing you know there's at least a square on your scorecard and you go from looking for birdie to making bogey or double. That's the biggest thing about this place is going out there and attacking this place and just really sticking to your game plan, not trying to get away from it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports