Patrick Reed hopes to feed off the positive memories of his memorable WGC-Cadillac Championship debut when the American defends his title on the Blue Monster this week.
Reed, who has joined The European Tour for 2015, held off Jamie Donaldson and Bubba Watson on his first visit to Trump National Doral and says he has the same good vibes this year.
“It's always good to come back to where you're defending, especially back here last year, we were lucky enough to actually get put in the same exact room,” said Reed, whose win in Hawaii in January saw him join an elite band of players to win four US PGA Tour titles before their 25th birthday.
“I walked back in that room and was like, ‘all right, some good memories’. It feels like it's playing almost about the same as it did last year, and that comfort level is back and hopefully I can continue to play some good golf and have a chance to come down on Sunday.”
No event in the US saw more balls end up in the water hazard than this one 12 months ago, as strong winds in Florida caused carnage.
And Reed admits he would fancy his chances if the breeze picked up again.
“My short game was really good last year here,” he added. “My chipping was just amazing.
“I remember making a lot of putts - whenever your short game is on, you can aim a little bit more away from the flags. It’s playing tough, so you know you don't have to go shoot, 12 or 13 under par; I knew single digits was going to handle it.
“I would pick targets away from the flag and just try to make an aggressive golf swing to there and at least give myself a chance. You're going to roll a putt in here or there once in a while, and coming down 18 I had that chance.
“To come here - the first time I'm really playing with the top 50 players in the world, I think 49 of them were here last year - to be able to actually play against them and have a lead going into Sunday and having Tiger in the group in front of me, having Bubba right there, having Dufner, having all these guys that have won Majors all around me; and be able to hold them off and go out and win it, it just gave me that extra confidence that I can play with everybody.
“You have to have your game on and I felt like this week last year it definitely was.”
