Q. Just your round today, a couple bogeys to start with, that up-and-down on the last must have made you feel pretty good.
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, it was a nice one to get par out of. There was lots of not-so-good stuff out there today, and just stuck in there. Managed to have a couple of birdies on that back nine, and yeah, just nice to get away with level par and keep myself in the tournament.
I think especially today it could have got away from me a little bit.
Q. It's three days of world-class scrambling from you; how pleasing is it that that keeps you in contention for a tournament these days, whereas maybe a few years ago you're way back?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah. That's why you've just got to hang in there. Golf is a crazy game. You've got to try and get as much out of it as you can. I feel as though my good is really good, and my bad is getting better.
You know, I think I've just got to keep hanging in there. I really have to go out there tomorrow and have to hit it better. Today was pretty unacceptable to be honest.
Yeah, just really need to go out there, hit it better, and really commit to what I'm doing.
Q. What's the mentality tomorrow, mate? Obviously a little bit of a gap but you're the next guy in line essentially. How do you approach it?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, you never know what this course is going to throw at you. Anything can really happen around here. I think the course setup was great today. Hopefully get another day like that where there's some opportunities for birdies.
Yeah, this place is unreal. You really never know what -- it seems like you can have a birdie on every hole and you can make a double or triple quite quickly, as well.
You just need to hang in there and hit it a lot better.
Q. Were you aware of where you could have got into the final group? Were you trying to get one last birdie to go head-to-head with Billy?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, that would have been nice. I was quite aware. I was having a look at the leaderboards and stuff. I felt as though I hit a really good putt on 17 and didn't quite go in, and obviously a nice par save there on the last to kind of keep me in it.
Q. How much encouragement does it give you when you're five back but you've seen the last two winners come from seven back? Does that give you any sense of encouragement or feel a little different?
CAMERON SMITH: Yeah, I think that just goes back to what I was saying before: Golf is a crazy game.
The course is so tough out here, it seems like you need to hit shot after shot perfectly, otherwise you're going to be throwing some hefty par putts in and even bogey putts. Yeah, just need to stick in there. Hit the driver a lot better tomorrow I think is key.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports