Q. Great playing today. How would you characterize that round compared to the first round?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I'd probably say I hit the ball around the same. Felt good off the tee with most of my clubs. I think the only difference is that I made a couple lengthy putts at the start of the round which got me fired up and going.
Yeah, I felt like I played pretty steady yesterday and today. Just trying to do the same thing tomorrow.
Q. This is not your first rodeo. You've played a couple U.S. Opens, including last week's kind of in your hometown I guess.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Yeah.
Q. That experience must have been amazing. How do you think that has helped you this week?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Oh, it's definitely helped a lot. Out there the crowds were unbelievable. Almost everyone was shouting out my name. I still understand that this is a PGA TOUR event, this is a very big deal, but with less people I feel like there is almost less pressure out here. I can swing freely. Golf course is a little easier than the Open.
Yeah, definitely starting the U.S. Open coming to here, it definitely eases me into the swing of things with playing like pro golf with these guys.
Q. You're not from here but from the state. Have you been feeling the love out there the first two days? Do you expect to have more support?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I'm from the state over, Massachusetts, only like an hour and a half drive.
But New England golf growing up, played a lot of golf in Connecticut. Yeah, definitely there is a lot more people out here than I thought that knew my name, so it's nice to hear them cheer me on.
Q. What's your expectation tomorrow? You've been in this position sort of before.
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Right. Just go out and do the same thing. Just stick to the same game plan that I've had the past few days, just take it one shot at a time.
Not really trying to go for a certain result or score, just play some good golf.
Q. You're only a couple shots out of second place. Do you watch scoreboards at all?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: I was taking a look. It's kind of weird seeing my name up there. I'm not really looking for my name. I'm looking for the other guys. I'm used to looking at the PGA TOUR app to see how like the best players in the world stacking up. It's kind of cool to see my name above some of those guys, but it is what it is.
Whether I look at the scoreboard or don't, the score is still the same. I'm just trying to go out and play some golf.
Q. One of the caddies that were in your group, he told me on the sly that, man, this kid is good. How does that make you feel when you hear that from people that have been out here for a long time?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Definitely makes me feel good if they think that's good or that I'm good. Thank you.
But, yeah, I definitely have some stuff I need to improve on. I feel like I can get better, but I feel like my game is in a good spot. I'm confident with how I'm swinging it and that's probably the biggest thing.
Q. What you do feel you do best?
MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN: Just driving off the tee, approach shots. Yeah, so seeing those long putts at the beginning of the day go in was kind of a shock to me. I'm not used to making many of those.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports