Q. Denny, great start to your tournament, 64, 66. What seems to be working for you out there?
DENNY McCARTHY: I think a little bit of everything. Yesterday I played really nice. Didn't make some looks today.
Cleaned up for the most part around the hole. Didn't real feel like I had my best stuff out there, but it got windy; some tricky hole locations with the softness of the greens into the wind.
Yeah, I just feel like I had some really nice par saves early on and started to get gusty, switch around a little bit, and I feel like Derek and I, my caddie, just managed it pretty well today.
Q. There were a lot of the low scores yesterday, including a 59. What did the wind do differently today and how is that going to effect the weekend?
DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, it blew out of a different direction today and harder. It kind of switched around. It was mainly out of the west today. Went around to northwest at times or west, northwest and even went to west, southwest at times.
So just kind of trusting what we were feeling at the time, somewhere off of west. I picked a lot of maybe more club on to front pin but maybe taking some off the more club just trying to hit maybe the safer shot if we wasn't sure what the wind was doing. Just trying to manage it well with the wind.
Q. You played the ball up yesterday and played it down today. Was there issue with mudballs out there?
DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, the worst one I had was 18. There was a huge clump of mud on the ball. If the fairways were firm my ball definitely would've gone into the bunker.
Hit it pretty hard and landed really soft. Mud on the left side of the ball typically goes right, and that would've been hard with the wind off the right to look at the pin there over the water.
Just trying to hit it at the center of the green and kind of boomeranged on me. Couple specs on some other ones, but 18 was probably the worst one. Overall, I think it was going to be worse. It wasn't. It really wasn't terrible today.
Q. Set yourself up in a good position. Anything you are wanting to work on between now and a late tee tomorrow time?
DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, clean a few things up with the driver and some iron play. I like kind of how -- I like how I'm stroking it. I feel good short game around the greens, bunker play. Just a little bit of iron play.
Wedges feel good. Maybe a little sharper with the short irons, 7, 8, 9-iron, and driving I would say just a little bit more comfortable with it. Didn't really hit it that great off the tee today. Got away with few.
Yeah, just clean up a few things in the long game.
Q. Obviously take 18 away, pretty good round today despite the conditions don't you think?
DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, it was a pretty gusty round today. The wind switched around a little bit. It was nice to put up a good number, especially when I didn't feel like I really had my best stuff.
But I managed to put a good score on the board today.
Q. How different is the course playing from yesterday to today?
DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, just different -- yesterday was really hot and the wind -- there wasn't much wind.
Today felt nice. Temperature was good. It's blowing a lot more, probably blowing 15 consistently; maybe gusts up to 20 at times and switching around a little bit. Just makes it tricky when you're trying to figure out what the wind is doing and pins are tucked. You're just trying to figure out what the wind is doing so I can make the best decision.
I feel like my caddie and I did a good job of managing that today.
Q. Do you feel like you're in a good spot?
DENNY McCARTHY: Yeah, good spot entering the weekend. 12-under, typically scores here reach that 20-under ballpark, maybe even a little lower, so 12-under after two rounds is a good solid start. Like to clean up a few things and maybe something similar on the weekend.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports