Q. One of the cleanest rounds on your way to a 66 today. How pleased were you with that round?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, very nice. Pleased with the score. Left a couple of shots out there on a couple of the par-5s. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the day.
Q. Give us an idea of what you learned of the golf course today. Standing with you here now, there's barely a breath of wind at all. How did it change out there as you were playing?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: It was a little bit breezy when we first started, but it was still gettable. But now towards the back nine, kind of the last 12 holes we played, it got pretty nice. So really wanted to take advantage of the good conditions.
Q. How conscious were you of the opportunity that existed out there this afternoon, and how does affect your mindset? Do you go chasing something, or do you have to remain patient when it comes to links golf?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, it's one of those courses where it's gettable if you're playing really well and you're getting a few nice bounces and making some putts. But as soon as you get a little bit greedy and you miss in a bad spot, you're going to make a bogey pretty easily.
That was one of the big things today. I wanted to keep a clean card and, when I hit a good shot, try to make the putt and make birdies. But I wasn't going to try to push anything.
Q. Zoom out if you will for us for a moment and give us an insight into Camp Hovland. You had a great result at Oakmont a few weeks ago, and we know there's a big week ahead as we head to Royal Portrush next week. Of course we're not overlooking this week and the significance of winning here in Scotland, the home of golf. Where are you with your game, and how are you managing yourself with these two big weeks ahead of you?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, still not entirely pleased with how things feel, and the confidence level is still not where I want it to be. But it's been nice to see that I can win at Valspar and have a chance to contend at the U.S. Open, and had a nice week at the Travelers before I had to withdraw with my neck.
But I've been trending in the right direction, even though it still doesn't feel great. If I can hit the ball most of the time where I'm looking and make a few putts and scramble, we can still compete.
So that's -- when it comes down to it, that's what matters. Hopefully the confidence level can improve as we go along.
Q. With that in mind, if you could put your finger on the one thing that you hope in Scotland to place before Sunday of this weekend into next week, what would that one thing be?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: It's hard to put one thing in place, but, I mean, like technically, swing mechanics and stuff, I still need to improve a little bit before I feel super confident and just comfortable out there and knowing that I'm going to hit it well every single day. We're a little bit away from that.
But I do feel like lately I've been chipping and putting it better. And made some nice up-and-downs today, made some nice putts for par. If I can continue to do that, I'm going to continue to be up there. So I'm very pleased with that.
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