Q. Always hard to put two back-to-back low rounds together. Playing in the afternoon, windier conditions, what was the big difference between yesterday and today?
ALEX SMALLEY: It was just a lot more difficult. The greens are starting to get a little yellow or white in spots, so there's not a lot of friction and the ball can kind of just keep rolling where it might not take the break because there's no friction. Yeah, more just overall a little trickier with the wind. A lot of fliers if you miss the fairway and you miss a bunker in the rough. So anything under par out here is pretty good, so I would have taken anything under par probably before I started. So pretty relatively pleased with how most of the day went.
Q. Players have been saying 18's one of the most difficult tee shots on tour. After going in the water there, pleased to only be making or just one bogey there?
ALEX SMALLEY: Yeah, I mean, I hit a pretty good tee shot, I was just barely in the right rough. And hit my second shot a little off the toe, a 5-iron, and it came out a little fluffy and it just didn't carry far enough. Obviously I knew I had the entire rest of the state of Florida to the right of that green, but I just, you know, it is what it is but, yeah, I mean, thrilled to get out of there with a bogey after hitting the second shot where I did.
Q. Despite the bogey had you a pretty nice embrace with your caddie at the end and jokingly threw the ball in the water. What was the conversation with the caddie?
ALEX SMALLEY: He just said, Great putt, great bogey, and just gave it another sacrifice for tomorrow.
Q. You talked to us earlier about you being in contention once or twice in your career and you took those as a learning experience. What have you learned that puts you in a better position going into this weekend?
ALEX SMALLEY: I think it's more of a comfort factor, just seeing your name up there and being up there with some of the best players, since this is a Signature Event there's a lot of really good players in this field. So just being comfortable where I am. I think understanding how your body reacts to pressure over the couple of times that I've been in a situation like this is important to recognize and to try to adjust accordingly. So tomorrow will be another learning experience and hopefully we can do a little bit better.
Q. If we would have asked you if you were to be in this position before Zurich do you think that you would have been in this position?
ALEX SMALLEY: Before Zurich?
Q. Yeah.
ALEX SMALLEY: I mean, everybody has thoughts of where they should be in the game and obviously I would have loved to have been here, but realistically probably not. I probably needed to finish maybe top 3 or top 4 at Zurich to be here. And we did, we finished tied for second. Had to scramble to get here. But before Zurich, you know, I knew I was playing well, anything can happen, it's a crazy game. Realistically, probably not, if I was being totally honest with you.
Q. If I were to play off of that, to follow-up with that, those your finishes prior to Zurich you had some strong finishes in Texas, had some strong finishes this season all along and then last week. Is there some momentum going, is there something you had been working on in particular, is there a common thread there?
ALEX SMALLEY: I certainly think momentum is a factor. Good golf carries a long way. But even though I we played decently well last week, this week was a new week and I had to prepare just like it was any other tournament. Just because I finished tied for second last week doesn't mean I get a four- or five-shot head start on the field, everybody starts from the same page. But I think knowing that I had some decent finishes and I felt like the game was trending in the right direction. Certainly you come into a week like this knowing that you're playing well and swinging well at it, and if I could just keep doing what I was doing then I could possibly be in that position again.
Q. Knowing that you're in Truist and the PGA coming up, do you have a little bit more freedom going into this weekend?
ALEX SMALLEY: Maybe a little bit. It's been funny, my team and I have been joking, I've been first, second, or third alternate the last three years when the PGA field has come out. So I feel a little bit better of being in the field after Sunday here. It's great to play in events like this. I don't know if it's more freeing, just because it's another golf tournament, it's another opportunity to do something great. I don't know if it's necessarily freeing to be there. You still want to do well, you still have expectations. So, yeah.
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