Q. How would you characterize two different nines for you? How would you characterize the day overall?
DAVIS RILEY: I got off to a hot start. I was 5-under through 8. I was just playing some really solid golf, hitting a lot of fairways and greens, and got the putter going a little bit.
Like you said, made one or two loose swings on 9 and 10, and yeah, the last couple hours on the course were tough. I mean, the wind's picked up, I was just barely missing fairways, so it was just hard for me to be aggressive. Yeah, that was kind of the story of it and just kind of a lot of par golf coming in.
Q. When you get off to a start like that, do you feel like you can be aggressive to a lot of pins like that?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. I was comfortable with every facet of the game, so I was just trying to execute the shot at hand and take it hole by hole and create a lot of opportunity and just try to make the putts. Luckily it felt pretty easy early and obviously there's always going to be a little adversity throughout a round and I kind of faced some of that and made one or two not so great swings and paid the price. But I'm proud of the way I fought coming in because it was really difficult out there and to snag one on 16 and make some good pars on that back nine was pretty nice.
Q. When you went through the turn there where had the two bogeys, when you got to 11 tee, did you reset your mind a little bit?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. Exactly like you said, I turned to my caddie, I was like, Let's reset, we're doing a lot of good things, let's just hit the reset button and get back in our process. And I feel like we did a good job of that and yeah, played, I guess it was 1-under on that last, I guess, seven or eight holes. So I was proud of the way -- with the gusty winds and stuff like that, I was proud of the way I kind of handled it.
Q. You have a little bit of a lead tomorrow. It's hard sometimes when you have a bigger lead how you handle it. How do you feel like you're going to go about mentally preparing for that?
DAVIS RILEY: For sure. Yeah, I mean, when you got Scottie breathing down your neck, you can't really let up any, so I know it's going to be tough and it's going to be a fun day.
But, yeah, just going to come out and try to hit the first tee shot the best can I and go from there. Like you said, yeah, it's a golf course you just got to put yourself in position and then you can be aggressive. So I'm just going to try to hit as many fairways as possible and just try to continue some good iron game.
Q. Do you relish opportunities playing with the world No. 1 playing like he is?
DAVIS RILEY: For sure. I've known Scottie for a long time and played a lot of junior golf with him, college golf, and he obviously is playing some really good golf right now. So he's going to come out swinging, but I'm looking forward to the challenge and it will be a fun day competing out there.
Q. Have you guys played on TOUR together, you and Scottie?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I mean, I played against him in the Dell match play last year, and then I played with him here last year, actually, so a handful of times. So, yeah, we're obviously very familiar with each other and know each other pretty well.
Q. What was it, Mid-Am, when you guys were paired together?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, the Junior Am we played each other in the finals. So, yeah, he got the best of me there, so I don't know, we'll see if we can rewrite the script a little bit. But I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Q. All those changes, the feels you have kind of gone back to with Jeff Smith, do you feel like they're clicking now, and this is where your game was maybe a couple years ago?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, for sure. Like I was saying the other day, I feel like I'm starting to get some of the better golf I played, certainly pro golf, and, yeah, just trying to get back to that a little bit. Not saying I need to entirely be the player I am two years ago, I feel like I progressed in a lot of areas of the game, but just some of that ball striking form, some of that consistency and some of that just freedom of mind that goes along with that, so that's all really I'm trying to get to.
Q. What's the biggest thing you feel like you've progressed on from a couple years ago?
DAVIS RILEY: Yeah, I mean, obviously having experience experiences to win golf tournaments, I gained that throughout the last couple years, and, yeah, just I feel like my short game's grown and I feel like that part of my game's progressed. Now I just kind of need to get the ball striking back up where I feel like it can be and should be, and I feel like I'm doing a good job of that this week and just going to try to continue to do that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports