.
Q. Francesco, good round today given especially what we're seeing a lot of players having trouble with. This is your first time back in a while. You've had a top 5 finish in the past. Just some thoughts on the decision to come back, and you've got to be pleased where you are after 54 holes.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I'm loving everything about this week. I don't know to be honest why I haven't come back in so many years. It's one of my favorite tournaments and courses. I think it just never quite fit in the schedule unfortunately, but this year it did, and yeah, I'm playing well.
I'm still not 100 percent off the tees, hitting fairways, but yeah, iron play has been really good, short game and putting has been good. Let's see what I can do tomorrow. So far a good week.
Q. I think you're going to be maybe six back or so. Given the difficulty of the golf course, and it's probably getting harder, do you feel like you're still in it?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I don't know. To be honest, where I've been, I'm just happy to be up there. Billy is a really good player, but, yeah, in golf you never know. On a course like this, it's showing today that if you hit the fairways you get plenty of chances and you can shoot 6-, 7-under par. If you start missing fairways it's a whole different challenge.
We'll see. Yeah, I'll do my best. I think there's going to be an outside chance, but it's just nice to be kind of up there.
Q. Did the course change dramatically from yesterday to today as far as firmness or not so much?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Not as much. It was really firm in the practice days, but then after the rain, I played yesterday afternoon, it was really similar to today. I expect tomorrow will be probably similar.
Q. You talked about where you've been; can you just talk about how difficult it's been to try to get your game back to where you wanted it to be, and do you have any idea why it's shown up this week?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, I've talked about it already. It's been harder than I ever thought it would be, between injuries and just other things that kind of got in the way.
Yeah, I lost my way for a while. I feel like this year there's definitely been some improvement in the game, maybe not yet in the results and in the scores, but even just the last few weeks.
I played the Byron Nelson in Dallas, finished top 20, which where I'm at is obviously a good week.
Made the cut at the PGA and didn't play great, but I was hanging in there.
I think that there were some signs that things were improving. I think it's mostly hitting the ball better off the tee. I've done it somewhat this week, but used to be kind of one of my strengths, hitting fairways, and I'm not very good out of the rough. If I don't hit fairways, everything else is tough for me.
Q. I don't know if after the PGA was the most encouraging or after last week was most encouraging. What was it that propped you up that you said after the tournament was over that you really felt like you were starting to definitely go in the right direction?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: I'm just understanding better where the best shots come from. I think the biggest challenge the last few years has been hitting really awful shots without really knowing where they were coming from, and then it becomes nearly impossible to play golf.
I think I'm understanding a lot better where the best shots come from, and I'm able to kind of reproduce more often good swings, not yet consistently all the time, but definitely more often than I'd say a year ago or a few months ago.
Q. Are you still working with Dennis or are you working with someone else?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, Dennis is still part of the team. I'm working with Jamie Mulligan over here, too, because I needed someone obviously to give me more help more consistently. They've been kind of working together. They like each other, and they get along, so that makes it easier for me.
Q. Wondering if you talked to your brother, how excited he is about being on the Ryder Cup team.
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, he's very excited. Yeah, obviously we've talked about it. It was great for him. I think the stuff that he's doing with the stats is really impressive, and a lot of the players, and Henrik obviously knew about it, and wants to kind of take advantage of that.
Yeah, I won't be there as a vice captain, so hopefully I'll be there in another function.
Q. Are you still playing at Riviera mostly?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah.
Q. Do you ever go down to Virginia and play with Jamie?
FRANCESCO MOLINARI: Yeah, sometimes I'm down there.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports