THE MODERATOR: Welcome back. We're here in the interview area with world No. 8, Patrick Reed, who also won the Farmers Insurance Open here earlier this year. Patrick, what are you seeing from the course so far that's different than when you were raising the trophy here a few months ago?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing is playing firmer and faster with it a different time of year, and with it being a little warmer, the ball is traveling farther. With that, it's still Torrey Pines. It's brutal if you miss a fairway, brutal if you miss a green. You have to make putts early in the day because, as the days go on, the greens get a little bumpier with the poa and make everything just a little tougher.
THE MODERATOR: What's different about a U.S. Open week compared to other majors?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing is the grind, the grind the golf courses kind of show, as well as you don't see conditions like this. Whether it's firm or fast, it doesn't matter. The rough is so thick and so penalizing that, if you hit into it, it's one of those you sit and realize, do I chip out, or do I try to get up close to the green?
I think that's the biggest thing. With fairways being more narrow and having the rough so thick, it's now a more positional type game rather than just set up and hammer a drive everywhere.
Q. Patrick, what is your opinion on having a venue that's a regular TOUR stop and then also a major championship venue? Are you a fan of that? What are the pluses and minuses?
PATRICK REED: Yeah, actually, it doesn't bother me. This golf course is a very tough golf course. It's a golf course that you can play a regular event at or you can hold a major championship at. There's not a whole lot of golf courses that are like that. Torrey speaks for itself. You get to this place -- especially when we play it during the Farmers, it's a lot colder. It's basically wet, it seems like, every day.
This time of year when we're holding the U.S. Open, with it being firmer and faster, it plays differently. Different times of year, the golf course is either going to be played on the ground or in the air. You're going to see two different types of golf courses this time of year than you are that time of year.
Q. The key holes for you out here that you would point to as saying I understand it's a U.S. Open, all 18 holes are pretty pivotal, but is there any couple holes that maybe you would pick out that you would say are keys?
PATRICK REED: I think for me the biggest ones are really the starting holes, 1 and 10, depending on what day you start on or which side. At any golf tournament, it's all about momentum, and I feel like at a U.S. Open that is huge and is basically pivotal through how you're going to start a tournament and how you're going to play it is how you get off to a start.
Last thing you want to do is start behind the eight ball by going and making a bogey right off the bat. For me, when I start on hole 1, it's going to be that 1st hole and even the 2nd hole, and when I start on 10, it's going to be 10 and 11. You want to get yourself off to a good start. It doesn't mean you have to make birdies, but hit a fairway, hit a green, and give yourself a look and just kind of ease yourself into the tournament and ease yourself into each round.
Q. After lapping the field at the Farmers, how are you attacking the U.S. Open setup differently?
PATRICK REED: I think the biggest thing for me is I have to stay aggressive. It's not as much being aggressive off the tee as it is more on the second shot. Get yourself conservative off the tee, get yourself on the fairway, and from there allow my irons to attack. Because of that, if I need to use a short game, it's fine.
It's one of those golf courses, especially how they have it set up right now, off the rough, off the fairways, I've actually found it to be okay. It's not too bad. Yes, you're going to get some bad lies here and there. Really it's more judging fliers, but around the green is brutal. You have to make sure you attack and hit the greens or, worse case scenario, leave it in the bunker.
Q. Can you talk about your preparation this week and how you feel your game is.
PATRICK REED: Preparation has gone amazing. My team and I have worked really hard leading into this week. I feel comfortable when I'm here to stay loose, play some golf, and really just kind of see how the golf course is changing day by day. But we feel good. Golf game feels really solid, and really it's now just kind of maintain the energy level and get ready for tournament time.
Q. How brutal is the rough around the greens? And are there any examples from your practice rounds?
PATRICK REED: It's nasty. Yeah, I had one today actually on the last hole I played, on hole 9, I threw two balls, and they landed just about the same spot. One hopped into the rough, and one of them kind of got in the kikuyu and sat up because it's so thick, actually sat high, where I felt like I could almost hit driver off of it. The other one was maybe three feet from it and sank to the bottom. I could advance the one that sank to the bottom maybe -- it was going short side, but I advanced it maybe six inches in front of me.
So it's nasty. I've seen some guys go underneath some golf balls this week already. Knowing how the golf course is going to be set up, they're just going to let it go. The rough's at this point, and now it's just going to keep growing, keep getting longer and longer. So it's going to be a true test around the green, but it's going to be a fun test.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports