Reed Weighs in on Young Season


Patrick Reed is off to a nice beginning to the New Year. In just three starts the 24-year-old Texan has won once - the Hyundai Tournament of Champions two weeks ago - and tied for third in the limited-field Hero World Challenge.

Now the four-time winner returns to California's Coachella Valley to defend his title in the Humana Challenge. The $5.7 million PGA Tour event played on three courses - the Arnold Private at PGA West (the host course and site of Sunday's final round), Jack Nicklaus Private at PGA West and La Quinta Country Club - gets underway Thursday.

After winning the Tournament of Champions in Maui, Reed passed on last week's Sony Open to spend time with his family after a hectic December. In addition to preparing for a new season, Reed's wife Justine was hospitalized after having a grand mal seizure as she was taking a bath on December 9th. The couple was staying at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla., as Reed prepared to play in the Franklin-Templeton Shootout, from which he withdrew because of Justine's health scare.

When asked Tuesday what he did during his off-week, Reed quipped, "Worked on my forehead tan. Seemed like that got more attention than the actual golf game. But no, I played, I went out and we played like 13 holes, that's it. Through the whole week. I played 13 holes.

"Actually Justine used a demo set and we played at Kapalua, which was awesome. That was so much fun to go back and slap it around a little bit. We just relaxed, hung out with the family, went to the beach one day and just kind of went down to the shops and just drove around and just kind of relaxed, because we didn't have really much down time."

He then explained the circumstances of Justine's seizure and what followed, leading him to pass on the Sony Open won by fellow Texan Jimmy Walker, who he edged in the Tournament of Champions a week earlier. "We had three weeks off and then we found out we were in Tiger's event and then found out we were in the Franklin Templeton Shootout and then after that, we had, with what happened to Justine, we, that three-week span we had before we spent time in the doctors, I needed to make sure everything was all right, because I'm still paranoid about it. So, with all that, we really didn't have any down time. So we took off that week, we didn't really do much. Maybe golfed one day."

In last year's Humana Challenge, Reed reeled off three straight 63s to set a new Tour record for most strokes under par after 54 holes at 27-under par. Though he closed with a 71, Reed still had enough of a cushion to get past Ryan Palmer by two shots.

Reed's two victories in 2014 - the other came in the WGC-Cadillac Championship - earned him a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup. Reed acquitted himself well in Scotland, becoming the top-scoring American with three-and-a-half points in four matches as his team fell 16½ to 11½ to a powerful European squad.

Reed said Tuesday during the run-up to the Humana Challenge that his Ryder Cup experience will prove beneficial as his budding career advances. "Especially with the confidence level and how playing in that big of a stage, it was a big boost," he noted of playing in the heat of the intense biennial competition.

"That first tee shot never got easier throughout the week. It was even difficult during the practice rounds. But to play really well there throughout that stage, I just feel like it's going to give me a lot of confidence going forward when I get in those high pressure situations to be able to hopefully come through."

Here's what else the San Antonio native told reporters Tuesday. Reed will be paired in the first two rounds of the Humana Challenge with Matt Kuchar.

MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Patrick Reed to the media center here at the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation. The 2014 champion. It's hard to believe it's been a year talk about your thoughts coming back into this event and your hot start to 2015. We'll have a few questions.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, it's always nice to come back to where you won. To be back where we played so well at last year and kind of was able to cruise on the last round and to be out for the first time and seeing the golf courses, it's always nice. I was making a couple putts out there today and the comfort level was coming back and hopefully can continue into the week.

MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. This is the second time you've had a chance to defend on the PGA Tour. Wyndham, obviously first. What's it feel like to be a defender as opposed to obviously you have to do things like this, right?

PATRICK REED: It's a little different. You kind of have more of that comfort factor I feel like going into the week. When I went over to Wyndham for the first time after we won, stepped up on that first tee, especially with Justine that was the week that she decided to carry the bag that week, so it was a special week and just have a little bit more comfort level and a little bit more confidence going into the week. Really at the end of the day you just have to make sure you don't get ahead of yourself and just play your game. That's one thing I'm going to do hopefully different this time than I did last time defending.

Q. And this is your first time back in the desert since you won here, right?

PATRICK REED: It is.

Q. So first time back on the golf course. Does it look around and feel the same and say I remember what I did here or there?

PATRICK REED: For sure. The only difference is the rough. They allowed it to go dormant and before it was lush, thick and green, which actually I like it when they have that dormant because it's a little easier to notice difference in fairways compared to rough as well as with having that it just out of that dead Bermuda, it's more challenging, I feel like, than the nice stuff.

Q. You shot 63, 63, 63. You were never in the rough.

PATRICK REED: I was still in the rough. The thing is that I got a hot streak with that putter last year and hopefully I can continue the same. Really when it comes down to it, that's what it seems like for me keeping the ball in play and make some putts.

Q. Some guys on Tuesdays like to play competitive matches, gamble a little bit. Seems like you kind of have the opposite perspective. So I wanted to ask what your attitude is that you take into practice rounds and maybe why you don't like to do something like that.

PATRICK REED: Every time I play practice rounds I just kind of most of the time I like to go out on my own and get done. Go and play and hit as many shots as I want. On some holes I might only hit one shot on some I might hit five. That's why I feel like it's a difference whenever I play with somebody it's almost I almost get caught up in playing in their speed. If they decide to halfway through the round want to whiz around the back nine, then I feel like I'm blowing through it rather than playing. So, I've always just kind of tried to do my own thing, kind of just do it and it has worked. That's just kind of put my headphones in and just get going.

Q. Is it part of it too where you don't want to feel too competitive too early before you have to? Does that enter into it in any way?

PATRICK REED: No, not really. Whether I'm playing with my buddies on, if I play a practice round or whether I'm playing in a pro am or whether I'm out there by myself I'm as competitive as can be. I'm always trying to do different things, whether it's a shot shape or there's always things I do to keep myself competitive. I don't really think there's anyway you can be too competitive or anything like that.

Q. Can you talk about have you changed at all as a player or even as a person since before winning here last year in I don't want to say this was a kicking off point but the second victory really got you on the roll. Has anything changed?

PATRICK REED: Not really. I feel like the beginning of last year was really solid. I felt like everything in the bag was set, everything was good. Then when I flattened the face of my driver at Bay Hill I kind of lost my driving and I was kind of searching for a driver trying to search for that club. I felt like I got too consumed into that. Kind of had a dip in my game. But now that I got a driver back in play, I feel that my game's just steadily improving to how I want it to. It's one of those things that I need to be a little bit more consistent. Besides that, I feel like nothing's really changed, just more on the aspect of just minor improvements. The more you work at something the more it's going to get a little better in the consistency aspect.

Q. I don't think you've ever not had confidence, but do you feel yourself having more confidence now after being through what you've been through the last 12 months?

PATRICK REED: Oh, yeah. With how good of a year we had last year and then also with the start at Wyndham, I just feel like the confidence is growing and growing on where if I have a bad round or if I'm struggling during around I still have that confidence level to keep going and turn a 75 into a 72 or a 71 rather than before where the consistency maybe my 75 would either stay at 75 or maybe go to 74 or 76.

Q. Last year during the final round you had a fairly sizeable lead to kind of dwindle away for a bit. Curious, did you let up a little bit, was it not in your nature to play conservatively, anything you learned from that going forward about the way you should play or the way you want to play?

PATRICK REED: For sure. I've never had a seven-shot lead going to the final round ever before in any event. Even in college or anything like that. So it was really foreign for me knowing what to expect and how to play and I caught myself instead of attacking flags like I did the first three days, which I shot 63s on I started to play to the middle of greens. Instead of hitting driver, I hit 3 woods to keep it short of some bunkers. And also I started playing really conservative. Then all of a sudden my lead started to dwindle and then I was like all right now you got it close enough now let's put the pedal down, play aggressively like you know how to play, and I was able to make a birdie basically right after I did that.

I just need to know that and I learned that it doesn't matter what kind of lead you have, you can lose it. You need to stick to your game plan and keep firing hard, because with how talented it is out here someone can shoot, there's been 59s out here before. Guys can go really low. So 1 or 2 under par might not get it done. Luckily it did.

Q. Obviously, the, your remarks after Doral last year got a lot of attention. Obviously showed a lot of confidence in your self. But have you done that at all to build yourself up or in other words does the confidence come before the hitting the good shots and playing well or does it come from doing that?

PATRICK REED: It's a little bit of both. I feel like whenever I'm confident in what I'm going to do and I know this is the shot I want to hit, I have the confidence going into every shot and if I go hit the shot, it just makes my confidence even greater. Even if I'm not playing well or something like that, I just go back and things I've done really well, I mean we have played so much golf and hit so many different shots that you can go somewhere back in your memory and you've probably hit that shot you're about to hit a thousand other times. So just go back and try to find one I hit really well and get that confidence level going um and try to boost myself to get around going.

Q. What is the week of vacation in Hawaii look like last week? Anything adventurous or just sit on the beach?

PATRICK REED: Worked on my forehead tan. Seemed like that got more attention than the actual golf game. But no, I played, I went out and we played like 13 holes, that's it. Through the whole week. I played 13 holes. Actually Justine used a demo set and we played at Kapalua, which was awesome. That was so much fun to go back and slap it around a little bit. We just relaxed, hung out with the family, went to the beach one day and just kind of went down to the shops and just drove around and just kind of relaxed, because we didn't have really much down time.

We had three weeks off and then we found out we were in Tiger's event and then found out we were in the Franklin Templeton Shootout and then after that, we had, with what happened to Justine, we, that three week span we had before we spent time in the doctors, I needed to make sure everything was all right, because I'm still paranoid about it. So, with all that, we really didn't have any down time. So we took off that week, we didn't really do much. Maybe golfed one day.

Q. Second straight year that you've won very early on the Tour. Is that just a function of putting in a lot of work or is it a function of not doing any work and coming in fresh at the start of the year?

PATRICK REED: No, we always work. We work hard at it. That can also be a fault of mine. Working too hard where all of a sudden now I'm a little bit drained going into the last part of the year. But that's going to come for more experience on how much I can handle and how much I can't. But, really, I just feel like I was kind of getting in a groove there and I started hitting the ball pretty solid at Tournament of Champions and I didn't really feel like I made many putts except the one I made on the playoff hole. They said that was like the second longest putt I made all week, besides the one I made on No. 1 from like 61 feet. But just a good ball striking week and hopefully I can continue doing that the rest of this year and keep giving myself chances.

Q. Two quick ones, actually, the first one is did you get to the bottom of the situation with your wife's medical condition? Is everything okay? What you can say at this point.

PATRICK REED: Yeah, as far as we know I've put her through every test I think two or three times. And everything's, as of right now, everything's fine. It's one of those things that it could happen again, it might not. Some people have one and never have one ever again and some people have them frequently. She's never had any seizures before, but we're all thinking and some of the doctors are thinking that the cause of it is because of the, because when we were in China she had a corneal ulcer on her eye and it was so bad that we had the European Tour medics look at it and they said, hey, this is a medical emergency. So we actually went and got some treatment on that and she was putting a drop of either steroid or antibiotic every hour.

Because of that, it just was tearing up her stomach, so she wasn't eating very much. So she was down in weight and her potassium and magnesium were low and just one of those being low has a chance of causing a seizure. Unfortunately, both of them were.

Q. The other thing was on the Ryder Cup, you talked about the wins and playing well last year, but how much of a boost did that give you, the way you played personally that week.

PATRICK REED: Especially with the confidence level and how playing in that big of a stage, it was a big boost. That first tee shot never got easier throughout the week. It was even difficult during the practice rounds. But to play really well there throughout that stage, I just feel like it's going to give me a lot of confidence going forward when I get in those high pressure situations to be able to hopefully come through.

MODERATOR: Well, thanks for your time. Patrick.

PATRICK REED: Thank you.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.