Q. Tell me about the round, first of all, what was the most difficult part and what worked for you?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I stayed really patient today. I didn't have a very good start. I was 2-over through three, and luckily I was able to make three birdies in a row right after that. I just really tried to do a good job of hitting middle of the greens, just giving myself a lot of putts, and yeah, I felt like I did a really good job of that today.
Q. Doing your preparations that you want for this week and the practice, did you expect it to be as tough as it is?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: It was windier in the practice rounds and it almost played even tougher, but I knew even with perfect weather like this, it was still going to be hard. You don't have to be very far off to make a bogey and they can kind of come in a row if you're not too careful. It's one of the hardest tests that I've played in a while.
Q. It looks like a course of extremes, you have guys shooting plus seven, plus eight and guys at 2-under?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I mean, you play really well and hit fairways and greens, you can make some putts, you can shoot a few under par. But if you're a little bit off, the rough is just so penal. If you are short or you make a couple bogeys, you want to attack the pin, and you hit it more in a bad spot and it's just a never-ending cycle.
Q. A tough test but you've been in this position a few times. How do you feel being in contention?
VIKTOR HOVLAND: Yeah, I'm still learning but I feel like I've learned a lot from past experiences. In these tough tests, I've been trying to force birdies too much and now I just need to kind of try to play my game, hit the middle of the greens, pick up a couple birdies here and there and just play boring golf and hopefully on Sunday that's good enough to win it, instead of trying to push for flags that I'm not supposed to push for.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports