Q. Are you pleased with your round out there today?
BILLY HORSCHEL: I am. I hit it better than I did yesterday. Still didn't strike it as consistently as I wanted, but I made better swings than I did.
You know, it's tough. It's a tough course, and you've got to be on your game and you've got to make really good golf swings. You've got to execute the shot that you're seeing to the ability that you're able to, and even when you do that, it's not a guarantee that it's going to turn out the right way. Really good round of golf, 1-over par, a couple shots off the lead. I've got a chance going into the weekend, and my goal was to try and win this weekend, and I've got a chance at least going into tomorrow. If I can just continue to make better golf swings and hit better shots out on the course, I'm putting it really well, and I'm thinking really well out there on the golf course, I think I'll have a chance come hopefully the last nine holes on Sunday.
Q. You seem to play tough golf courses where par is a good score very well. What is it about your game or what is it about your mentality that you bring to the golf course that helps you with these type of courses?
BILLY HORSCHEL: I think I've always played really tough golf courses really well. I think I've never been one to throw in the towel. I fight to the end, and whatever that may be, I'll take that score at the end of the day. I think the other thing I do really well is I drive the ball really well, or at least I have in the past. I've put the ball in the fairway. It makes it a little bit easier going into the greens, and then I'm a really good putter inside 10 feet. When you play courses like this it's hard to get chips to tap-in or dead weight, so you're going to have to make a lot of five-, six-, seven-footers, so it plays right into my hands in that sense. If I'm able to execute the shots the way I want, I'm able to play really tough courses really well, which I love.
Q. Is there one thing you need to focus on this weekend to hopefully be able to hoist the trophy at the end of the week?
BILLY HORSCHEL: I just think tempo. Todd Anderson and I have done some really good work. I missed the cut last week and flew home Saturday morning and we worked Sunday, and just the same things we've been trying to work on. I've been having an issue, the club head gets inside my hands a little bit going back, so it feels weird a little bit of the motion we're trying to make. Just feels a little bit different. So when it feels different, the tempo is already quick as it is, and so we've tried to slow it down naturally, but especially with what we're trying to do, if I can just keep a nice rhythm and tempo to my swing, it allows me to hit better golf shots, and I did a fairly good job of that today. I've just got to keep building off that going into the weekend.
Q. Kevin Kisner believes even par is going to win this golf tournament. Would you agree?
BILLY HORSCHEL: I would say over par is going to win this golf tournament, 1-, 2-over par. It depends on how much rain we get tonight, and then it depends on the wind direction is supposed to switch the next two days to more of a northwest wind, I believe. We've played it in the majority all week in a southwest wind, so it's going to be interesting to see how this course plays with a northwest wind, and I think that's going to dictate -- how much rain we get and then how this course plays in that wind is going to dictate what the winning score is going to be. But if you gave me even par right now I'll go sit in the clubhouse for the next 48 hours and just see how everything goes.
Q. Is it kind of weird for you to say at a PGA TOUR event that over par could win this?
BILLY HORSCHEL: Yes, it is, because we're not used to it on the PGA TOUR, but I love these courses. I mean, this is very fair. This is a very fair golf course, and it's set up very fair by our tournament staff, and I think they've done a really good job. What makes this course even tougher, though, is when you add this 15- to 20-mile-per-hour wind and you get these firm greens, when you're coming in downwind it's tough to stop the ball near the hole.
I've always been a fan of 8- to 12-under par being a winning score of a tournament, and then with 1-under leading, some people might say, well, it's not fair. You can compare it to the USGA, and guys would bash the USGA over this, and it's different. Our tournament staff does a really good job of putting pins in the right spot, putting tees in the right spot, and it's very fair, you've just got to execute the golf shots perfectly every time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports