What Patrick Reed said after winning The Masters
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Patrick Reed won his first major title The Masters on his fifth time of asking, holding off strong challenges from Fowler and Spieth to finish at 15-under and one shot clear. Here’s what he said after his victory
On posting three rounds in the 60s…
“I think the biggest thing was just, of course, I felt like the game was in a little better shape coming in, but just the experiences from in the past. I knew the golf course a little better. I had a little more experience around the course this year coming in.
“Really, my mindset going in was stick to my game plan, play golf, and, you know, I stuck to my game plan all week. Even today, I didn’t stray from it at all throughout the entire day. You know, it’s something that I needed to learn, especially at a place like this, how important it is to stick to what I believe and how I feel like I need to play the golf course. You know, with it, it gave me the reward of winning my first green jacket.
On whether or not he was watching the leaderboards. . .
“I did. I always, always watch leaderboards, no matter what event it is, whether it’s the first hole on Thursday or the last hole on Sunday. For some reason, my eyes are ‑‑ I always want to know where I stand.”
“So yes, I saw Jordan and Rickie just storm up those leaderboards and go up. I knew when I birdied 14, was about the same time that Jordan bogeyed the last. That point, I knew as long as there wasn’t just any catastrophic implosions coming in, that was going to be basically between Rickie and I.
“To hear that roar on the last, even though I knew Jon was in the group, I just knew it had to be Rickie, because, you know, to win your first major is never going to be easy. It definitely wasn’t easy today. I knew it was going to be a dogfight. It’s just a way of God basically saying, let’s see if you have it. Everyone knows you have it physically with the talent, but do you have it mentally; can you handle the ups and downs throughout the round.
“I felt like that putt I made on 17, and to basically keep my 1‑up lead going into the last, and to have that iron shot not come down the hill on 18, knowing that it’s probably the fastest putt on the golf course, is just another one of those many tests that I had to try to get over in order to win my first major.
On The Masters being the major he most wanted to win…
Definitely growing up, everyone always dreamed about winning Augusta, winning the Masters. Every time you think about it as a kid growing up, it’s always, you know, this putt is to win a green jacket; this putt’s to win the Masters. I think that’s just because of the history and everything that’s gone on here at Augusta National and how special it is to all the golfers and special it is to just golf in general around the world.
On it being the hardest round of golf mentally he’s played…
Today was definitely probably the hardest mentally a round of golf could possibly be. At The Ryder Cup, it’s just a totally different type of pressure. You go to a Ryder Cup and you feel like you have a whole nation on your back. You know, if you win or lose your match, you still have a bunch of other guys there that could pick it up.
It’s just kind of one of those things that seemed like the pressure at that point was kind of lifted off. No one expects me to go out and win. I expect myself to go out and win. My family and I believe that we need to go out there and I can win the golf tournament. Seemed like everyone else was saying how great I was playing all week, how very impressed they were, but come Saturday night and Sunday morning, they are like, oh, well, even though we said all these great things about how he’s playing, we think Rory’s going to win.
You know, going into that, it just felt like, okay, well, that takes off a little bit of that pressure off of me and I can just go out and try to play golf. That kind of fit into the motto that I was trying to do all week, just go out and play golf. It’s definitely harder to do that than I thought.
It was actually easier throughout the first probably six or seven holes, but then once I birdied 7 and then I missed the putt for birdie on 8, then I’m walking off 9 tee box and look over the scoreboard and Jordan is 2 away from me at that point, and I’m sitting there going, okay, now it’s really getting tight.
That’s when you started to think about, well, what ifs. My caddie, Kessler, he did such an awesome job this week, and especially today, of keeping me in it. When I birdied 14, he looks at me ‑‑ I wanted to go for it on 15 because I had a tiny little window.
He’s like, “No, we have the lead. Chip it down there. Let’s try to make birdie with your wedge. Worst‑case scenario we’ll make par.” And when I made par and on 15, and Jordan finished at 13 and Rickie was at 13 at that point, he just looked at me and said, “Hey, it doesn’t matter. Don’t look at that board. It doesn’t matter. It all comes down to us.” He’s like, “Go out and play golf. If you do what we do, we’ll win this golf tournament. Let’s go do it.”
Of course it didn’t help that Rickie birdied the last to get it to one shot, but I kept reminding myself and he kept reminding me, “Just go do you. Go play golf.” And I was able to get through it mentally and put together a solid 71.
On how he used to really struggle in majors and the difference this week. . .
The biggest thing was I put too much pressure on myself. I went out there and I tried so hard to get the ball in the hole. I tried so hard to hit the perfect shots, that going into this week, I was just like, hey, it’s golf. Go play.
I preached that to myself the entire week. I had my caddie remind me of that the entire week. Just be you. Play golf. If you get riled up, show it. If you aren’t happy about something, it’s all right. Just play golf.
You know, I was able to stay in that kind of mind‑set the entire week, and especially through the first three rounds. I haven’t really had much success in shooting low rounds out here at Augusta, and to be able to shoot three of my lowest rounds the first three days, it showed a lot. I knew because of that coming into today, that I really had a really good chance to win a golf tournament.
On if he regrets saying that top 5 in the world comment years ago…
Well, I mean, honestly, I don’t ever regret anything I really say. You know, I stand by my comments. I feel like that I’ve played some golf that I need to play in order to get to where I want to be, and that’s to be the best golfer in the world. You know, but the way you’re going to do that is perform in these big events and to win these big events.
You know, I’m just happy to be up here and be able to say I’ve gotten over that hump of not winning at all last year, coming into a year that one of my biggest goals was to win a major and compete in golf tournaments. To be able to get them both at once, to end the drought and win a major, it helps me mentally, and also helps my resumé, and hopefully I can just take this momentum going forward and play some really solid golf.
On whether or not it was a bitter sweet moment not to be able to share it with his parents and sister?
I mean, I’m just out here to play golf and try to win golf tournaments.
The background? Patrick Reed hasn’t had a relationship with his parents and sister in several years, although his mother actively shows her support on social media. They didn’t attend his wedding and were reportedly kicked out of the 2014 US Open by Reed’s wife Justine who once took to social media to say call them ‘sick people’ and reference Adult child abuse. “They are sick people and need help,” she wrote. “Time will tell all. And people are starting to wake-up and realize what kind of people his parents really are. You all should pick up the book: Breaking the Bonds of Adult Child Abuse”
In 2016, his sister Hannah made her feelings known about the family fued. “Patrick is not the same person he use to be. He is not a brother anymore, but a selfish, horrible stranger and it’s heartbreakingand.”
