DOUG MILNE: We would like to welcome Patrick Reed to the virtual interview room at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Patrick, thanks for joining us again. Just your making your sixth start here at the Memorial, haven't missed a cut, a couple top-10 finishes, including last year. Just some thoughts on being back to an event where have you had some good success in the past.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's awesome to be back and especially when we're we were here last year and hearing about the changes and knowing how much of a change the entire golf course was going to take it was exciting to come back and see how those changes were. The golf course today obviously because it was wet, cold and kind of a little bit misty out there all day, it played long. It definitely showed its teeth, showed its length and it's a golf course that's going to take a lot of patience and some good ball striking and get that flat stick working because you're going to have a lot of those 3-, 4-footers for par.
DOUG MILNE: I haven't been out to actually see any of the changes, but I heard they're pretty dramatic. And an interesting question earlier was, does it level the playing field in a way, you get a guy like Jon Rahm who is only played here twice and a guy like Matt Kuchar has been here 15 times. Do the changes somewhat level the playing field, is that accurate?
PATRICK REED: It's hard to say. The golf course is definitely significantly different but a lot of the changes are a little bit of length here or there or some green complexes changing. So it's always a golf course I feel comfortable with and I feel like the lines off the tees for me haven't really changed very much, it's more of the second shot coming in and where you want to leave the golf ball. But for the most part even though like 15 being such a dramatic change on the visual off the tee, I actually still have the same exact target that I did last year and the previous years because the actual shape of the hole off the fairway hasn't changed, so I'm still playing to the same spot. So the good thing is I feel comfortable on things like that and now it's kind of just getting used to how I'm attacking each hole and with different clubs and different green complexes where is the best spot for me to leave myself.
DOUG MILNE: We'll take a few questions.
Q. A couple questions. First, just looking at your hat, do you use that stuff?
PATRICK REED: Excuse me?
Q. Do you use the stuff, the CBD stuff?
PATRICK REED: I do. And it's amazing. CBD, they have really helped out on just kind of aching and pains and kind of dealing with the highs and lows of golf. Golf's a stressful game, but life is also stressful and the time we're living in these days and any way that you can naturally help yourself and better yourself is something that I feel like is important and needs to help everybody.
Q. I guess I wanted to ask you, there was some comments made by Tom Watson I guess in Europe about American players versus European players in a Ryder Cup format. And suggesting that American players don't get along as well, they don't have each other's backs maybe as well as Europeans do. You've been paired with, most of the time when you played Ryder Cup you've been paired with Jordan Spieth. But does it really matter if you have a good relationship with a player you're paired with or don't have a good relationship with that player?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing is it's not as much of if you have a good relationship with a player or not, morph you respect the player. If you have respect for the guy and you know his strengths and his weaknesses, you try to find ways that not only are you helping your teammate but helping your team out by pairing the guys up with people that can bounce off of each other and pick each other up. I feel like the biggest thing in Ryder Cups is more about who can, what teams you can put out there that not only help each other play but also as the whole team to take away any weaknesses. So then you're putting out strong teams that can pick each other up. Because the biggest thing is it's not as much of going out and playing with your buddies as much as it's going out there and doing your job and trying to win points and win the cup. And the best way to do that is by making sure you put guys together that can really go out and dominate golf courses and pick up each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Q. Where is your game at right now?
PATRICK REED: What's that?
Q. Where is your game at right now?
PATRICK REED: Game feels good. I've been bouncing back and forth between two drivers and went out and actually played the front nine today with my old Ping that I won in 2018 with at Augusta and then I played the last nine with my Titleist and I feel like I had full control over both drivers as well as had control over my iron shots. I think that's the biggest thing what I've seen this week and what I've seen is the golf course has obviously gotten longer, it's softer because of the weather, but it's the rough is just brutal. It's so thick and nasty that you have to play out of the short grass. I feel like I've been swinging really well, I feel like the game's going where it's supposed to be heading and trending towards and really when that's going on just gives me more confidence and I feel like I'm able to plot myself around places and really give myself a chance to win a golf tournament.
Q. I know you won earlier this we're at Torrey Pines, but in two weeks it's going to be a completely different golf course. So do you take good vibes from what happened earlier this year with you or is it completely different setup change your approach?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, no, I mean, I definitely take good vibes from it. Really the only difference I feel like there is, is they have two extra tee boxes that they have. It's a tee box I think they have a longer one on 11 and then the one on 15 that is a bear. Which really, at the end of the day, really for me, at the end of the day, it's go out there and it's Torrey Pines. You have to hit the fairway, you have to hit greens, you got to make putts. And any time you're playing a U.S. Open you know how penalizing the rough's going to be. So you got to have full control over your golf ball and when I won back there earlier this year it was the same thing, you hit it in the rough you're going to pay a penalty for it. So you have to go and hit fairways and have to attack the golf course and I feel like if I do that, then I feel like it would be a good test.
Q. So it you sounds like this week's course is a perfect setup.
PATRICK REED: Oh, for sure. I haven't seen rough like this really ever. My first practice round I played I just played the front nine on Monday and I missed the fairway by maybe a yard on hole 6 to the right and Kessler and I spent at least five to seven minutes searching, we couldn't find the golf ball. And it is that brutal, that thick, that nasty and it was, I felt bad for the ams today. When they got in the rough, they just kind of looked down and the first reaction was to look at me and ask what do I do. And I'm like, guys, it's a hack out, it's take a wedge, hit it sideways for them. And really I've hit a couple shots out of the rough this week, you can get yourself an okay lie if it gets kind of in a little area down grain that you might be able to advance it to the green. But a lot of times it just sits there and you look at where you want to play your third shot from and try to get up-and-down.
Q. This is the once in 17 years where the cicadas are out. How bad are they now, are the players talking about that a lot?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it got brought up today whens I was on the 7th. We were back on that tee and they were rocking. It was really loud and they were going. But you know, they're fine because it's just the kind of the steady kind of noise. So it almost feels like just white noise. So it's not that bad. But it definitely makes it more lively out there. You definitely hear them.
And yesterday I wore white pants and there was two or three of them that kind of came and latched on to the white pants at one point. I'm sitting there -- first off, I didn't know in the very beginning, and I kind of looked down and I'm like, what is this that's on my leg? And so, no, I mean it actually it's kind of drowns out some of the noise from golf carts and from people walking from a distance that you don't hear and so if anything it's actually helping, so bring them on.
Q. Supposedly the weather gets warmer they get louder. So it was cool today, but.
PATRICK REED: Well it was cold today, so I can only imagine if it gets to 85 or 80, in the 80s.
DOUG MILNE: Patrick one last question. I know we're kind of increasing numbers week-in and week-out, how exciting is it for you guys to see more and more fans back out for you guys to kind of get your game back to what you're used to as part of the fan experience being a part of it.
PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing to have fans back. Especially seeing more and more people coming out and I think the biggest thing for me is not only seeing how many fans are coming out but how many kids are coming out. There's so many kids that are now coming out and we're seeing a lot of guys out there and to see them getting excited to come out and watch us play again is awesome. It's now nice that when you hit a good golf shot they're out there cheering and clapping rather than, during COVID, we were fortunate enough to still be able to play, but without the fans there it just seemed to that energy wasn't there. You hit a quality golf shot and you wouldn't hear anything. So to have them back and to have the energy back it's awesome, I can't wait to get to full strength, but the more and more people that come out, the better it is.
DOUG MILNE: Did you have a decent roar last week when you holed out?
PATRICK REED: I did. You know it was nice. Even that -- the great thing is I feel like the fans are now excited that they're able to come back out. And a day like today where how nasty the weather was, it was cold, kind of dreary, rainy, being a pro-am, you just wouldn't expect that many people to come out and support, especially on a none tournament day. When I'm teeing off and I'm the last tee time in the morning and to have as many people that have been out there while it's raining, it's awesome to see and you know they're getting excited about it and the more the fans get excited about it the more the players get excited.
DOUG MILNE: Well that's all we got. We appreciate your time as always. Good luck this week.
PATRICK REED: Thank you.
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