Q. Davis, how would you compare this round to yesterday?
DAVIS RILEY: It was a quick turnaround, so I hit the bed immediately and tried to get as much sleep as possible. I was pretty tired after yesterday. It was a pretty tough day with the wind and fast greens out there yesterday, so just tried to recoup and regroup and get ready to go early this morning.
Q. Were you hitting the ball as well or not as well as yesterday?
DAVIS RILEY: No, I mean, I drove it terribly today. Like yesterday, I didn't drive it great. One of the worst driving weeks I've had so far in a long time. But yeah, when I've had an opportunity I've just taken advantage of it.
So yeah, made a couple solid putts, and I think I had three bogeys today and they were all three-putts. Yeah, I don't know, I've just kind of gotten lucky a few times with some bad drives, ended up in decent spots and having shots to the greens. But yeah, if I could just get in the fairway, I'd feel totally fine.
Q. Are you leaving the golf course today frustrated about your game or optimistic that you didn't have your "A" game but you're still in contention?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I'll optimistic because there's a lot of things I'm doing well. When I have hit the fairway or put myself in a good position, I've taken advantage of it. So no, I'm doing a lot of things really well. But I think it's a pretty simple fix, just getting some good start lines and going from there. But no, the game is in a good spot, and looking forward to making a tweak or two here after the round and be ready to go.
Q. Are you feeling some energy from the crowd here that's rooting for you?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. I see more and more familiar faces from yesterday to today, so it's definitely nice seeing that, and hopefully I can put together a good round today and make a little noise.
Q. To that end, what would it mean to have a good showing these next two days given the support that you're getting and where you are, close to home?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, it would mean the world to have a chance to win this golf tournament. But like I was saying yesterday, there's a lot of work to be done. Yeah, the game is in a good spot. I didn't score and do things quite as well as I did yesterday, but I'm still doing a lot of things good. I just need to take a tweak or two here or there and get ready to go again tomorrow.
Q. You talked a little bit about your familiarity with this place kind of in the lead-up. How have you seen that play out through two rounds here?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, like I was saying, it's been some time since I've played here, other than the previous two Sanderson Farms, but it's changed a lot throughout the years, but yeah, there's definitely comfort seeing hometown friends and just the course I've been around a lot, and just being on grass that I'm super familiar with, too, definitely brings a level of comfort there.
Yeah, I'm extremely comfortable around here and looking forward to the next two days.
Q. You talked about how you struggled with your driver today and off to a slow start, but you picked it up on the back nine going into it, a couple birdies here and there. How would you describe your mindset the final three-hole stretch?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I knew I wanted to get -- like anybody else, you want to finish it off right, the round, because I had it going pretty good there on the back nine, was 3-under, and kind of had a sloppy three-putt on 8, just a putt that kind of got away from me on the first one. Had a really good look there at No. 9. I was in the middle of the fairway, pretty good number. Hit it right at the flag and just kind of came up a little short.
I was wanting it to be a little closer to have a more realistic putt at birdie, but it is what it is, and for the way I was kind of driving the ball, anything under par was pretty solid.
Q. The story of this week has obviously been playing in front of your home town. You don't live that far away. You didn't make the cut last year. You make the cut this year. What does playing the weekend here at the Sanderson Farms Championship mean to you?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, it means a lot. I guess this is my third time now. I've made the cut once, missed the cut once. Really haven't had a really stellar showing like I feel like I can do around here just because I love the golf course, and obviously you really want to do so close to home. But that's something I think I've struggled with in the past is maybe putting a little too much pressure on myself to perform instead of just treating it like any other week and kind of feeding off the hometown feel to it instead of making it added pressure.
Yeah, it'll be fun the next two days.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports