Q. Five birdies on the day.
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Uh-huh.
Q. For a 3-under. 3, 7, 12, 14, 16. Any stand out as a little more memorable?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Not in particular. I three-putted 10 so I kind of had some motivation for my last eight holes. I had been hitting it well, so was looking to sneak in a few more birdies.
The course is tough. The wind -- finishing in the wind yesterday was tough, so having five birdies yesterday and five today I feel like is pretty good out here.
Q. Play a lot different from the windy afternoon to this morning for you?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah, it was actually a little windy on the 1st hole and I was like, No, I want a break. But playing the back nine yesterday in most of the wind and then kind of finishing there today, it felt like kind of familiar those last nine holes.
So it was kind of had a different strategy today on the last few holes from yesterday.
Q. Everybody is talking about the firm, fast conditions out here. Not only is it something different than what we've seen this year, this course has never played this way.
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah.
Q. What kind of adjustments are you making and do you like this?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah, I like it a lot. I'm always the type of player that I like it firm, fast, and as hard as possible. I think it requires better golf shots. Like out here if you miss a green getting up and down is no gimme. You got to miss it in the right spot. Even if you miss it in the right spot there is no guarantee you're going to get it up and down.
So hitting a lot of greens is really key. Today I hit 17 greens, so definitely makes it a little bit more easy to cruise around.
Q. You have a good showing when we saw you last out in L.A..; you continue the momentum here. What did you do during the three weeks of down time?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Actually in L.A. I changed putters. I stole a putter from my host family for the week and it worked out, so I'm keeping it. I don't know if it's changed my mind out on the course; makes me feel more freed up.
But I feel good to go, and my ball-striking has been getting better, so having confidence on the green was kind of what I was looking for, and I kind of found that in L.A.
So kind of feel like I just worked on putting, just continued my drills and stuff I'm working on in my swing. Overall just feels like I don't have to work too much on it. Just sticking to my plan.
Q. You can't blow past that story, okay. What kind of putter?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: It's a Scotty Cameron. It's the one JT putts with, the Phantom X. I called my coach the Sunday of Hawaii because I missed cut and I was like, I'm just struggling putting. Like I'm hitting it great.
And he's like, Well what side of the hole are you missing it on? I said, Every side: short, long, left, right, doesn't matter. He was like, You need to go buy a putter for the week. Just look at something different.
So I got to my host family and he was like, I got 20 so just take one, try it out.
Q. This is like in the basement? He's just got a...
LAUREN STEPHENSON: No, he just loves golf clubs so he had just golf clubs everywhere. And so I took it on Monday and I texted him after my practice round and I was like, I hate to tell you this, but I really like the putter. Can I cut it down? I'll buy it from you or something. But, yeah, so it worked out.
Q. Did you know your host family?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: No. Actually a friend connected me with him who's a caddie at Wilshire. Yeah, so I got lucky.
Q. And he let you cut it down?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah.
Q. And keep it.
LAUREN STEPHENSON: And keep it.
Q. Who's the caddie that connected you guys?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Scotty Leonard.
Q. What's the host family's name?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Peter. I forget his last name. Mack, I think.
Q. Mack?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Mack, yeah. So credit to him because here we are.
Q. If you can putt well out here with like Steve said the firm, fast conditions, I would imagine that's a testament to your confidence.
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah, I did have two three-putts today. Like I said, the greens are pretty tough and some of the pins were in tricky places.
Like if you got it just past the hole it was going to race by. So I feel like if you can keep the proximity close it'll prevent some three-putts.
I love the greens. They're actually like super similar to the greens I putt on at home, so just feels comfortable.
Q. So did Peter have like one of the mats or something in his house?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah, he did.
Q. And you're sitting there just rolling it on a mat?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: He's like, Hey, look at this. I got this new Scotty. Maybe you'll like this. I rolled a few, and I always putted with a Scotty growing up, and then I had been putting with an Even Roll for the last two years.
So as soon as I put it in the bag on Monday I was like, This feels familiar, like comfortable. So it worked well.
Q. Where is home/the home course right now?
LAUREN STEPHENSON: Yeah, in South Carolina at Musgrove Mill. Yeah, it's kind of similar to this, like small-ish greens, tight fairways. But the greens like pretty much roll the same, so it's pretty nice.
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