Q. 6-under today. A couple of unfortunate bogeys, but overall, the day must have been pleasant for you with eight birdies.
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I would say so. It always stings a little to end a round with a bogey.
However, yeah, eight birdies around this place, the wind is always tricky, there's not a lot of margin for error out there on a lot of holes. I took advantage of some good clubs, just good stock yardages where I didn't have to do a whole lot, which is always a nice feeling. I was able to hit a few close and make a couple big ones -- or longer putts on the front.
Q. When you woke up and saw the weather forecast and saw maybe a little bit of wind, did that make you happy?
ADAM HADWIN: No (smiling). I'll be honest, I didn't even check it. I feel like I've tried to play amateur meteorologist as a golfer for so long and all it does is make me think more. So I'll just show up and we'll go with whatever the wind direction is and try and play the golf course the best as possible.
Q. It's only Thursday, but still you look at the leaderboard and the names right under you, what do you think?
ADAM HADWIN: It's only Thursday, a lot of golf left. Like I said, I played a really solid round of golf today. I was in play off the tee, I hit a bunch of greens, I had some good looks, and then kind of it got going on the back nine. I hit a few wedges close.
I took advantage of maybe a little bit softer Muirfield Village with the rain overnight and we've got three more rounds to go, and I've been torn apart by this place before, so I know how quickly it can sneak up on you. So just keep doing what I did really well today.
Q. You had a really good first round last year here and you kind of, you know, like you said, off the rails in round two. What's your mindset heading into a Friday to kind of redeem yourself around this place?
ADAM HADWIN: You know, I feel pretty comfortable right now over the golf ball with kind of the entire game. I never felt rushed, I never felt like the -- as I kept making birdies, like I was getting ahead of myself or anything like that. Very comfortable. So I feel in a lot better position to kind of handle any sort of adversity that may come or when it comes, I think, because I feel like it will come around this place. There's just too many holes where, like I mentioned, the margin for error is so small that you can feel like you hit a good shot and get absolutely screwed.
So I feel like mentally I'm in a really good place right now to be able to handle that and just kind of move forward and accept it. So we'll show up tomorrow, get ready, and we'll see what it holds.
Q. What did happen in the second round last year?
ADAM HADWIN: I think, you know, if I remember correctly, I made the turn onto the front nine in a pretty decent position, then it sort of started to unravel on hole 3.
Again, like I said, I think you can hit a pretty -- what you feel like is a pretty decent shot around this place and end up making double, which you can't say on very many golf courses.
So I think at the time probably mentally I just wasn't prepared to handle that and kind of fight through to the finish, and I think right now, I feel like my game has been getting better, the results haven't shown it, but I've sort of been trending where I want it to go, and I think today was just a bit of a culmination of that.
Q. Do you think that experience, as painful as it was, maybe helped you in the long run?
ADAM HADWIN: Oh, I hope so. Yeah, I certainly will learn from it. I've got a love/hate relationship with this golf course. So today was a little bit more love, you know, and I'm looking forward to three more days of trying to compete, trying to stay up at the top of the leaderboard, and continue this momentum that I feel like I've started to build.
Q. I know that the result was disappointing for you last week, but was it kind of refreshing being back home?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah. Listen, I think every one of us always loves when we get north of the border. Some of the other guys spend a little bit more time up there than I do. I'm rarely up there anymore. So it's always nice to kind of cross and be amongst other Canadians and obviously we get really good support.
Yeah, it sucks to not play well, especially up there. I mean it sucks to miss cuts, but missing a cut in Canada is definitely up there with some of the worst. I got to spend some time with my mom, just kind of chill out, played Toronto to golf club on Saturday, just relaxed.
I was joking with the guys that I used a push cart around. I hadn't done that in years, get back to what the game used to be for us growing up, just slugging it around yourself, hitting shots, having fun, enjoying company. The game can wear on you sometimes and I think that I can lose sight of that sometimes with the best of 'em.
Q. You get asked this a lot, but a couple of big team events with the Presidents Cup and the Olympic, obviously, later this year. When you guys are all together, do you discuss it, the five or six Canadians? Are they jockeying for those positions? Do you talk about it amongst yourselves?
ADAM HADWIN: I wouldn't say a ton. I think for us, the only topic of discussion would be how cool it would be to see how many we can get on the team, with it being in Canada, Mike as a captain. We talk about the potential for having four to six guys on the team, not so much how are you feeling about your chances or how do you feel -- you know, that sort of thing.
As much as we're a brotherhood and we all want to see each other do well, I think we all want to beat each other as well.
Q. From the Olympics standpoint, do you just put your head down and keep churning the way you are and try and make that team?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I mean, over the last month, I've probably played my way out of the conversation -- not out of the conversation, but certainly out of a good position to be in. So coming into this week, I know the questions are always going to be there, but I think for me in particular, it was more -- it was very important this week to get into the process.
I thought I did a really good job of that prepping Monday through Wednesday of how am I going to handle this, what am I going to do, how am I going to react to a bad shot, that kind of thing. It paid off today.
Q. Was playing that recreational round, just pushing the push cart, was that helpful to you, kind of no pressure, just fun?
ADAM HADWIN: Yeah, I think so. I struggle sometimes to do those rounds. If I don't play well, I kind of wonder why I'm out here. But, yeah, I think just kind of get back to what I used to do as a junior and as a young amateur when the game was not my livelihood and not how I paid bills or anything like that, just go out and enjoy some good company and hack it around and hopefully hit a few good shots and kind of just enjoy the experience again.
Q. Even though Scottie Scheffler and Morikawa and all those guys are on your tail on Saturday, right?
ADAM HADWIN: It's just one round. I've always said you can never win the tournament, but you can lose it, and so I haven't lost the tournament yet.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports