THE MODERATOR: Justin Thomas is with us now at the 106th PGA Championship.
Q. To this point in the week, how has the reception out there sort of compared to the way that you thought it might be?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Actually, this week has exceeded all my expectations. It's been better. It's been more fun. It's been more enjoyable than anything I really thought or could have imagined. I mean, I'm very, very excited for tomorrow, and it should be a lot of fun.
But I'm pretty bummed that the week is almost over. Just enjoy tomorrow as much as I can and see what happens.
Q. How long has tomorrow's final round kind of been something you were looking forward to?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not really too much just because, yeah, everybody has a scenario that runs in their head of them potentially winning the tournament, but how that happens, you don't know.
I feel like I have done the most important part of putting myself at least within striking distance, and I'm going to need a really good front nine tomorrow to work my way in the mix.
But I feel like I'm fully capable of that of how I'm playing, and it would be nice to have a chance there on the back nine.
Q. Take us through 14. First of all, the tee shot. It looked like you went from being very disappointed on there to very happy on the second shot.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, 13 took a lot of wind out of me I felt like. I felt like I let some birdie chances go, and I didn't really feel like I was hitting bad putts.
It just wasn't -- they just weren't going in the hole. 13 was kind of a funky read that I felt like I didn't trust and I didn't hit a great putt. That kind of ticked me off.
14 now, 250 yards to a pretty small shelf, it's a tough hole, and yeah, I just double-crossed a 5-wood. I was trying to cut it in there and hit it in arguably is one of the worst spots you can.
But it goes back to what I was saying earlier this week; that shot is doable when the greens are soft. If they're normal or firm, I can't keep that on the green. I just tried to hit it as high as I could because I was into the wind to try to get it to land soft, and as soon as it started rolling, I knew it had a chance, or at least it was on a good line. For that to go in was beyond a bonus.
Q. That was one of the louder roars of the day because there were so many people right there around that hole.
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was crazy. I had goosebumps for pretty much right up until I got to 15 tee. As you know, it's not exactly cool outside.
It was one of the coolest moments of my career. It was unbelievable.
Q. I know you have a lot of family and friends out here, but would you be able to estimate how many people are in Team Thomas out there?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know. I know we've probably provided somewhere 15- to 20-ish ticket-wise, but I saw my freshman year English teacher today. I saw a teammate of mine, a guy that I drove to school with every day in high school. There's just a lot of people I'm seeing that didn't necessarily -- but it's also where I grew up, so I guess it's a part of it.
Q. Was there a specific thing that told you you had to change your phone number?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I hadn't in a while, and honestly, I felt like I just was -- it was going to make my week a lot easier. I just was like, I don't need to be distracted.
It's going to be a hard enough week. I'll do it right beforehand, and I still have it to where I can kind of get back to things here and there in the morning and at night, but as soon as I leave for the golf course and until I get home, it's all business, and I don't need to be distracted with anything else.
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