Q. Describe the day for you.
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Pretty good, I'd say. We just kind of found a good zone. Honestly, I called my coach last night who was here beginning of the week, and I was like, I didn't really feel like I was that far off yesterday, and today I didn't feel like I did much different. A couple putts dropped, and next thing you know it's an 11-shot difference. Kind of a funny game we play.
Q. Was there a point you thought this was going to be a really special round?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Yeah, and then I started leaving them short. It's funny how that works. No, just kind of sticking to what we were talking about. I definitely thought about it a little bit, and then a couple more putts started to drop, and it was like, wow, this could be real.
Q. Did 59 come into your mind at any point out there?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Maybe a little bit on 11 after I left it in the heart short. I thought I flagged one on 12 and got a bad kick off the bunker, then was kind of sitting there like I've got to do a couple things right coming in to make it happen.
Q. You mentioned that you did have four, five putts in that 10 to 15-foot range that a couple of them dropped.
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Yeah, I started working with a new putting guy last week back at home. It was a little frustrating because I thought I was hitting good putts yesterday and none of them fell, and I told my caddie, I guess we're due today. A couple of them started to pile in, and just fell one short.
Q. Who did you start working with?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Eric Dietrich. He's down in Jupiter. It makes it convenient at home. I still see the guy that I have at Ole Miss as well, so certainly got a good team around me, which is nice.
Q. Then your regular coach that you said you were talking to --
MICHAEL LA SASSO: My swing coach as well, Chase Duncan.
Q. You could kind of see that maybe this round was going to come in the last few weeks?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Yeah, I thought I played pretty good golf down in Bedminster. It was a tough golf course and there was a couple things that -- there was a lot of times where I feel like I shoot the worst score I can possibly shoot, just kind of not getting a lot out of my rounds. I told my caddie yesterday, I really feel like we're not far off, and I guess it kind of started to come together today.
Q. You're now a year into your pro career; how satisfying, how much did you kind of feel like you needed a round like this to feel like you're growing as a player, kind of almost like confirmation that we're getting somewhere?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: I mean, it's been an interesting year. I kind of was talking with a couple people on my team about I feel like it's probably one of the harder tours to adjust to just with all the grass types and jet lag and everything. I take each week of trying to learn something. I'm pretty fortunate I have a couple older guys on the team that lead me in a good direction. They say I won't listen to them, but I listen to what they have to say. Kind of each week trying to learn a little bit and progress. It is still pretty early in my professional career for sure. Just trying to chip away at it the best I can.
Q. You shot a couple of 63s in South Africa. What's your lowest? Do you remember shooting any lower?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: We play a couple golf courses back in Raleigh that are kind of pitch and putts and they're fun money games, so I've shot 60 out there a couple times and blew a couple 58s to be honest coming down the stretch. But it's a pitch and putt of a course, so it kind of makes it fun. But kind of allows you to take it deep and not get nervous coming in, and I wouldn't say I was.
Q. How excited are you about not only the final two rounds for you individually but also as the team? The Aces kind of have some shots there, but having a chance to win a title?
MICHAEL LA SASSO: Yeah, it would be sick to win. Last week, we were starting to edge a little bit closer --
Q. Trending well.
MICHAEL LA SASSO: I think a lot of the guys on the team are starting to play good golf coming into the week. I was impressed with everybody in the practice round. I kind of feel like I let them down the first day, so hopefully I made some good ground today and we can keep pushing on towards the weekend.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports