Q. 5-under par 66 today; 14-under total. What are your thoughts on the round?
CALEB SURRATT: Very pleased. It was a good day. You know, I think some of the hardest rounds in golf are honestly ones that have to follow up great ones, so to go out there today, kind of fight my thoughts at times, getting ahead of myself, I was still able to play well.
That was good that I showed that to myself, and hopefully use this same momentum.
Q. Anything not working as well as it was yesterday?
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah, it was just tougher honestly. I thought today was way harder than yesterday just because I was one the first groups in the morning yesterday, and then today I was afternoon, so a bit more wind. These greens are getting a lot firmer.
So with them getting firmer you can't short side yourself, so just kind of a lot more shots on the front nine that I had to hit away from the pin. Obviously just harder to score.
So still would think that would be one of the lower rounds this afternoon because it's just not as scorable.
Q. You mentioned you've been on the road for quite a few weeks in a row now.
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah.
Q. How difficult is it at this stage of the year to stay fresh or prepare for individual tournaments?
CALEB SURRATT: It's hard, but that's our job. I'm blessed to be able to do it. It's kind of one thing I've been trying to tell myself a lot, is like I get to do things, I don't have to do them.
It's kind of like having a little bit of a fresh, appreciative mindset makes preparation and long weeks on the road like this away from home and family a lot easier. That's how I'm viewing it.
Q. You hit a beautiful second shot on 18 to a few feet to set up the birdie and go into the weekend with a one-shot lead. What were your thoughts on that?
CALEB SURRATT: It was great. That was one thing I struggled with today was my 40-, 50-yarders, so to be able to hit a really good pitch there on a really hard shot with that pin being on that slope.
So it was good. I hit a few of those nice ones coming in with those shorter wedges and hopefully can continue to do that. Pretty pleased to be leading but tournament is halfway over.
Q. After last year, how excited were you to come back and just try and...
CALEB SURRATT: Very, yeah, I really like it. I really love this golf course. A little bit of redemption is kind of my goal.
Q. Yeah.
CALEB SURRATT: Just having a tough finish last year hitting it in the water to lose on 18, you know, but that's all in the past. I'm hoping to make -- regardless of how I finish this week that was a positive thing. I learned a lot from that. I would say it's a really good spot.
Q. And a brilliant week overall.
CALEB SURRATT: For sure. I like it. I have good visuals out here. I enjoy it. You know, they do an amazing job making sure we're taken care of and accommodated well here. Just takes a little bit of stress off.
I'm just enjoying it. It's more so -- I think it's less the place and more so just the last week of the year for me probably. Trying to like embrace that, have fun, and hopefully just go out with something positive.
So that's my goal.
Q. And on a course that suits you well and you know it does.
CALEB SURRATT: Yeah.
Q. So that's a quite nice feeling going into the weekend.
CALEB SURRATT: It is, for sure. Yeah, it makes me comfortable. Also makes me comfortable knowing who I'm playing with. Anthony Kim probably tomorrow, and then Thomas Pieters and some guys breathing down our necks. Amazing players and I know them all very well, so it's cool. You get to see some of your buddies and guys you learned from and watched growing up and now you're competing with them. I use that as some extra motivation and positivity.
Q. It's a great leaderboard.
CALEB SURRATT: It is a great leaderboard. Be good to see how it shakes out next few days.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports