PATRICK REED HEADS into the U.S. Open having made a promise to his daughter that he can add more titles to his Masters crown.
Reed claimed his first major with victory at Augusta in April, finishing a stroke clear of Rickie Fowler.
He will now attempt to win back-to-back majors by triumphing at Shinnecock Hills this week, and approaches the tournament with some extra motivation.
He told a media conference: “I’m out there to try to win trophies.
The biggest thing is try to get trophies and, you know, I keep on promising my daughter that I’m going to bring her home a trophy every time I leave the house, and so daddy needs to get on track and bring her home more trophies.”
Shinnecock Hills has been lengthened to 7,445 yards and is expected to provide a sterner challenge than other courses have in years gone by, with the last four editions of the event all having been won with scores under par.
Reed said of the course: “I finally feel like I’m playing a U.S. Open that I’m used to seeing growing up, where a couple under par is a good score.
“I mean, I played my first one was at Pinehurst, which was changed back to the old, old way Pinehurst was. When I played there during the U.S. Am, it was really thick rough if you missed the fairway. Now it’s kind of more waste areas. You could still play it if you’re offline.
“And then, you know, you have Chambers Bay, you had Erin Hills, and then Oakmont. Oakmont, if you missed fairways, you were in the thick rough. But Oakmont definitely wasn’t a drawer’s golf course. Every iron shot had to be cutting, and I kind of struggled there.
But I got to this golf course, and it seemed like it brought everything out. Even though it’s a long golf course, you have to be able to work the ball both ways. You have to be able to flight the ball depending on wind. So any little detail of your golf game that’s not on is going to be exposed.
“And I feel like it’s a complete golf course, complete place, and you just need to be sharp in all aspects.
“You definitely can score. I mean, there’s a couple of rounds when the wind lays down, and, you know, earlier in this week, it was really soft.
“On Monday, when I played, it had north-east winds, which is the opposite winds it’s supposed to have. They put us on the back area tee box, and I had four three-woods into par four and a three-wood into a par three.
“Even with lengthening it, if it plays soft, even though you’re going to be able to attack the greens, you’re hitting a lot of very long clubs into the green so it’s going to be hard to get the ball close.
“I feel like they have it in a situation right now that, depending on how the weather turns out or depending on the firmness or softness, they can make it as difficult as they want.”
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