Q. 63, that was a whole lot of birdies you had out there today. It looked like you were on cruise control today. Were you playing well?
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, I hit it really well today. I had a lot of really close looks at birdies. And although I made two bogeys, but I had 11 birdies. So don't think I can really complain.
Q. When was the last time you had that many birdies in a round?
MINJEE LEE: It's been a while. But I have been hitting it really well. So it's the first week back, so knocking a little bit of the rust off. But it is really nice to have a really low one in there.
Q. How did you spend your break?
MINJEE LEE: You know, I took a whole chunk of time off, and then I also had a long like training time, like training time as well, I guess, because I didn't play the first three events.
But, yeah, you know, I just saw my friends, and, you know, we did -- we spent it outside getting some food and just hanging out. So it was really good.
Q. Was that the in the States or back home?
MINJEE LEE: No, back in Australia.
Q. How often have you been able to get back to Australia in the last couple years?
MINJEE LEE: Oh, only in the off-season. But it was with quarantine. So I quarantined every single time I went back. So I only went back like once a year for the last like three years, so it's really barely anything.
Q. So it was good to be back this time, then?
MINJEE LEE: Oh, yeah. Even for that amount of time, it was really nice.
Q. Coming back here, any one of those birdies that really stood out for you that was hard fought, or was it just a solid day?
MINJEE LEE: Really I -- I just -- yeah, it was pretty solid. I mean, I don't think I really fought for anything too much today. Maybe just the one on 12, like I hit it a little bit right, but it didn't catch the slope. So it like stayed up there, but I hit like a low, like, putt, and it went really close. And I had a couple birdies. So that was a nice one.
Q. Maybe stretching a little bit, but did the clouds help today? It definitely feels a lot better out.
MINJEE LEE: A hundred percent. It was so much more cooler than any of the other days that we played. So that little bit of cloud cover makes the biggest difference around here.
Q. And after last year, when it was pretty dead around here, this little gallery of fans to sign for, good to see the fans back here?
MINJEE LEE: Yeah, for sure. I think just everybody's itching to get out. And just having some support out on the golf course and around the -- what do you call this? The finishing tent? I think it is really nice. I think they really -- you know, I think we really lacked like that human touch part of being a professional athlete and the galleries. I think it's really nice. That way we can give a little bit of us to them; they can give a little bit of them to us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports