Q. So talk to me about your third round.
RILEY RENNELL: Had a really good -- it was a solid day. Just kind of felt like things were a little bit more off today. Like I wasn't hitting my irons as good at the beginning.
Hung in there. Made some birdies. Couldn't quite get the putts to fall, but it was a solid day. It was like hanging in there type of day, so it was good.
Q. And then this is like the third round out of eight essentially, and you're at the top.
RILEY RENNELL: Yeah.
Q. How do you stay so present and not trying to get caught up in the mojo?
RILEY RENNELL: Staying present is really, really hard but it's just like finding different things to kind of like distract.
Q. Can you repeat that? Sorry. I can repeat the question. Three out of eight rounds of golf essentially. How do you keep yourself present without getting caught up in the mojo, especially being on top of the leaderboard?
RILEY RENNELL: I mean, yeah, it's hard. It's a lot of golf, and you just have to take it one shot at a time. It's really hard to be present. You just have to kind of find different things to distract yourself. I joke around with my caddie and we just talk all kinds of goofy things.
Like we talk about my dog and just, look over there, that tree is really cool, kind of stuff like that. It's be so mentally taxing coming into the tournament, so just kind of different things to kind of give yourself breaks in between shots.
It's a lot of golf. You just have to take it one shot at a time.
Q. Finishing so well at the Epson Tour Championship and then having basically a two-month break, do you think that was beneficial for reset, recharge?
RILEY RENNELL: Yeah. I really like -- trying to think. I was pretty happy with a little bit of a break. Just I kind of had -- toward the end of the season I had some wrist tendonitis issues. It was just a lot of golf. Like the last part of the season it was like towards seven weeks in a row, so it was just lot on the body.
I was happy with the break and to get a reset and kind of -- it's just a hard -- it's hard on the body. It's a lot of walking. Sometimes people don't --
Q. And mentally, too. Always have to be active on the golf course.
RILEY RENNELL: Right.
Q. There is no breaks.
RILEY RENNELL: There are no breaks. It's tough. It can be like a five, six hour days, so it's like five, six hours of continuous focus.
So, yeah, I was happy for a break.
But I feel like coming into the last part of the season I was playing really well and I just kind of was trying to take away the good things I was doing and get back in the same mindset and kind of same routine of what I've been doing.
Q. Nice. What are the thoughts going into tomorrow like?
RILEY RENNELL: You know, I'm going to just keep my same game plan. I really like those Robert Trent Jones golf courses, so I'm excited just to be here, too. It was tough for me getting through Stage II. It was a hard last day. It was really, really tough.
But now I'm here. Doesn't matter if I'm first or 44th, so I'm here. Going to keep plugging and stick to my game and try to take it one shot at a time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports