Q. J.J., 2-under, 68 today. How would you assess the day?
J.J. SPAUN: It was good. I got off to a good start. I turned in 4-under and we got put on the clock on our second or third hole. Just kind of loss focus, tried to rush a lot. But, yeah, I'm still in a good position heading into the weekend.
Q. You played here a couple times, last year you got a top-10 finish, what have you been able to learn about this course over the past couple years?
J.J. SPAUN: I learned that it's a lot harder than it kind of presents itself. You think it's, because it's short and the greens aren't very undulating that you can kind of attack. But it's still position golf. There's a lot of holes that you can make messes on that are super easy, at least they look super easy on paper. But yeah, fairways and greens are a premium here. If you do that, it should be more difficult to post a bad number.
Q. You mentioned losing confidence in your putting a little bit. How do you feel like it's coming back and how do you look at something like that in relation to the Open that's coming up fairly soon and you're going to be defending your title there?
J.J. SPAUN: It's been, it's nice to see that the putter switch was a good change. I found myself kind of resenting my putter at times when I'm out on the course. That's been the only issue all year. My ball striking's been pretty solid. The weeks that I putt just slightly better than average, I contend. Valero I won and I was not even like that high in putting. So I know that's kind of a great equalizer. So it's good to switch it up and see it kind of solidify that it was a good decision these first two rounds and hopefully keep it going this weekend, next week and keep it into going into the U.S. Open.
Q. How much do you kind of build the schedule or sort of your mindset this time of year around that as a first time going in to defend a major championship like that, how has it changed if at all the way you sort of setup the spring and go into that?
J.J. SPAUN: I've just planned my schedule, obviously based around a lot of the Signature Events. Obviously the courses that I like to play. Like here, like Colonial and Torrey Pines. So I think the priority was Signature Events, majors, what are the, you know, normal TOUR stops that I really enjoy playing, and trying to see how that balances out with the schedule. I think it's nice to have an off week before the U.S. Open. I didn't have an off week before the Masters and I won, which was great, but I also had to play 27 holes on Sunday in really intense tough conditions and I was burnt out. And the PGA was my third week in a row after playing Doral and Truist and kind of grinding it out through there and just, it will be nice to have a week off and then get to Shinnecock and kind of feel fresh, but not like I've taken too much time off.
Q. You've been a regular around here for five years or so. How different is it now with fan interaction and stuff as a U.S. Open champion versus in the past when you weren't?
J.J. SPAUN: It's great. It's cool to, you know, be reminded that you won the U.S. Open and that you have accomplished a pretty cool thing that not a lot of people get to do. You get so caught up in the day-to-day routine and grind out here that you kind of forget your successes. But it's cool to just run into people that bring it up and it's a fun way to reminisce on all the hard work that I put in.
Q. You mentioned how hot it is in here, how big of an advantage of playing in the morning today when it's supposed to be in the mid 90s later?
J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, it was nice until about two hours ago. But at least there's a little bit of breeze. Yesterday I think was worse in the afternoon because it was probably two degrees cooler, but no wind. So I think the breeze helps a lot.
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