Q. How would you describe your round today?
MAVERICK MCNEALY: I think it was just pretty quietly solid. Didn't do anything crazy. Took advantage of a few easier holes. But I'm just really happy with the way I'm playing right now over the last couple days.
Q. When you stepped on the tee this morning it was a little bit chilly, a little bit windy. What was your mindset as you kind of came out? What did you kind of think about like a goal in mind?
MAVERICK MCNEALY: I actually didn't really have any goals in mind today. I just, the first tee shot was everything I could handle, hard into, off the left and that was one of the best swings of the day, and I think that set me up for a solid par and a great birdie on 11 and that got me going.
Q. Conditions a little bit tougher today than they were yesterday?
MAVERICK MCNEALY: Definitely. Definitely. I think it was pretty fortunate to be on the Spyglass side because all the putting surfaces here are sheltered except for the first five holes, so I think it was a little bit easier over here than it would be to play Pebble in these windy conditions.
Q. Are you starting to kind of learn a little more as you progress in your professional career, get yourself into these positions a little bit more where you're around the lead, what have you kind of learned over these first couple years that's kind of helped you as you're going forward now?
MAVERICK MCNEALY: There's no real secret. It's just golf. You got to play better to get to the top of the leaderboard. I think I've been steadily improving a lot of things. My ball striking in particular, I've been working a lot with Butch coming up on two years working with him now, and the improvement I've seen with my ball striking is awesome and I just know I got to be patient, wait out the putter, and I can usually count on a hot nine or two with the putter to get me going up the leaderboard.
Q. Other than like swing keys and everything that with Butch, what else has he kind of brought to your game, to your mentality?
MAVERICK MCNEALY: Butch has a knack for helping you believe in yourself, even when you don't and I think something he does with -- and then also the way he teaches is very consistent player to player. He has a recipe that works, but he just takes what you have and make it's better. I've been working on the same thing with Butch for almost two years now and steadily been getting better and better at it and steadily seeing improvements in my ball striking, which is really encouraging.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports