THE MODERATOR: Here with Stacy Lewis after her third round here today. How are you feeling after you've had some moments to step off the course.
STACY LEWIS: I think big picture, you take under par on this golf course any day. Definitely left some putts out there on the back nine that I'd like to -- I hit them where I wanted to, so I don't know what I would do different but I just would have liked to made a couple more there coming in.
But all in all, I stuck to my game plan, made some good up-and-downs when I needed to, and still a pretty solid day.
THE MODERATOR: Let's talk about also on 17. You had a bit of a stretch there. Can you explain what was going through your mind as you watched your golf ball hang in the balance there.
STACY LEWIS: Well, I had one, 16, pretty much do the same thing and 16 went in. You know, hit a good putt there and kind of with wiggled around at the end and thought it was going to miss right, and then it looked like it was going to go in and then stayed out somehow.
So just kind of sums up the whole day.
THE MODERATOR: I know sometimes you want to say -- were you counting slower in your mind, just hoping.
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I tried to walk up there as slow as I could, and you get ten seconds once you get up there. Unfortunately the grass was pretty thick there around the edge of the cup.
THE MODERATOR: What do you say to yourself when you might have some of these rough start or what do you say to yourself to come back and finish off as strong as you can.
STACY LEWIS: Well, I'm playing good. I need to keep telling myself that. It comes down to tomorrow, anyway, whether I'm tied or one or two ahead, it doesn't matter, or one back, I guess. It doesn't really matter. It comes down to how we play tomorrow and how we handle the conditions and I just have to keep sticking to what I'm doing off the tee and hitting golf shots, and the rest of it will take care of itself.
THE MODERATOR: You've been playing some solid golf recently. Third day of a tournament, what does it mean to you to be in contention right now.
STACY LEWIS: It's what you play for. You play to be in these last groups and to be the last person on the golf course. That's the position you want to be in. I'm right where I need to be, and in the last group, I'll know what I need to do, even though we've got a few leaderboards, I'll know what I need to do out there. So it's right where you want to be.
Q. Well-played today --
STACY LEWIS: -- has a major feel to it. I think that's what's given us this great leaderboard is how hard this golf course is playing, and your best players are rising up, and you know, I think the good thing about this COVID stuff is when we do start playing is our fields are going to be great and you're seeing players that have had a lot of practise and the golf is going to be good.
Q. Did you get away with one on 11? Seemed to be going left and came back out into the fairway?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, I did, and you've got to have some good bounces every now and then out here. Was in-between clubs into the green and felt like 4-iron was going to land short and stop, and 5-iron was a lot. Didn't really trust it, but got a way with a good up-and-down there.
Q. When you're seeing putts go in, it becomes a lot easier to play away from pins when you need to. When you're hitting good putts that don't go in, are you tempted to go attack some flags and maybe get a little impatient?
STACY LEWIS: Not on this golf course. You start going at flags you don't need to, and you're making doubles and triples pretty quickly. While it was frustrating, I knew I had to keep giving myself putts at it and unfortunately couldn't get those closer ones to fall.
Q. You said that you hit some on the lines that you wanted. Did you see these things snapping? Was it wind?
STACY LEWIS: Yeah, a couple of them bounced. The one on 15 was maybe just a touch too hard. I didn't see the one on 18 breaking across the hole like that. So slight misreads; maybe the speed's different, they go in. They are putts that I look back on and I wouldn't go change the line that I pick and I wouldn't change the speedy hit it at. I think they just didn't go in.
THE MODERATOR: What is it going to take, do you think, for you to be able to come out on top here again and what would that mean for you to be able to put together something that gets you another win?
STACY LEWIS: I think the biggest challenge for me tomorrow is staying in what I'm doing, and the pace of play is dreadfully slow, and that doesn't play into my favor. People I'm playing with are pretty slow.
So that's honestly going to be my biggest challenge is to figure out with that pace of play how I can get into a good rhythm and how to keep myself in a rhythm of playing golf and not feeling like you're waiting so long in between holes and shots and different things.
You know, the golf stuff feels good enough now that it's kind of taking care of the other side of it.
Q. You've won on Scottish soil, a different golf course. Can you draw on that experience tomorrow and can that be helpful in getting the job done on a links golf course?
STACY LEWIS: Oh, for sure. I think just the knowledge of playing away from some pins when you have to, like the chip shot I hit on 16, the pitch shot from short of the green, I had to play away from the flag. You play at the flag, it's going to go over. It's really just that patience of knowing when to take your chances and when not to. Certainly played a lot of golf over here. I understand the links and I understand you're going to get some bad bounces, but you can also get some good ones.
Definitely going to draw on that experience.
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