Q. How would you characterize your round today?
RYAN PALMER: Patient. Kind of up and down a little bit here and there, but I hit the ball well. I kind of feel like I kind of wasted a good ball-striking day in a sense. I could have had a few better, I think. I hit the ball great today, controlled my flight, my distance. Just hit some great iron shots. I just didn't get enough birdies out there. Disappointed with the three-putt on 15, and it was unfortunate on 16, bogey there. But overall it was good. I gave myself chances, just couldn't capitalize on the ball-striking today.
Q. How difficult were the conditions out there?
RYAN PALMER: Not too -- they weren't difficult, they were just tough. It was hard, let me put it that way. The greens were hard, and you had to control your ball flight, your distance control. A few greens were getting close to the edge. But overall it was a hard golf course. We'll see about tomorrow with the wind, what they do as far as the wind is going to be blowing tomorrow I'm hearing, but I'm excited to be in the final group with Jon tomorrow on Sunday.
Q. You've got some great history with this guy over here. Can you talk a little bit about what 4-under par in these conditions, what kind of golf he's playing?
RYAN PALMER: It's great. I probably could have shot 2- or 3- or 4-under par today myself. I just didn't make the putts like I could have. I mean, 4-under par was probably like shooting 6-, 7-under par. It's an unbelievable round, obviously. It was tough. It was out there, I think, to shoot that because the par-5s were gettable. You're hitting a lot of wedges, so it was easy to control your flight. Get the putter rolling, you could probably see a good 3-, 4-under par round.
Q. What stands out about Jon a little bit to you for as well as you've gotten to know him?
RYAN PALMER: Well, he's just a confident player. He's fighting to be No. 1 in the world, and I think if he wins, he becomes No. 1 I've heard. With the wedge game he's got, the short game, the way he putts the ball, drives the ball, he's got it all. It's fun to -- good pairing tomorrow. We'll have a good time. James and Adam, we're all good friends, and we should have a good time.
Q. Is there a part of you if you can't win that would like to see him reach No. 1 at age 25 and that kind of accomplishment?
RYAN PALMER: He's going to get there. That's for sure. There's no doubt about it. It's just a matter of when for him. Yeah, obviously if it's not me, I'll shake his hand and congratulate him and be proud of him, as well. I'm just honored to be paired with him, a friend of his and a winning teammate of his, so we'll have a good time tomorrow.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports