Q. Yesterday you shoot a 62, beautiful round and today not quite as strong, but still in the red numbers, 69. What was difference today compared to yesterday?
PETER MALNATI: Holes 1 through 7.
I started on the first tee today and felt great. My game felt good yesterday and bad swing on 1, bad putts on 4, bad swing off the tee on 6 and bad iron on 7 and I'm 5-over through seven holes today. Definitely a little bit of a different start there but I was able to turn it around, which is nice.
Q. Attitude is everything out here. What do you say to yourself as you're going through this struggle out there early in the round?
PETER MALNATI: Well, there's certainly times when I've been 5-over through seven because I was just lost. Today I was 5-over through seven and it felt kind of weird. I still felt like I was the same player that shot 8-under yesterday and my game felt fine. I just told myself, "Keep going, you don't have to try hard, you don't have to press, you don't have to do anything, keep going."
It turned around on the 8th hole and I played great from there.
Q. Do you get as much satisfaction turning around a round like today than yesterday shooting a 62?
PETER MALNATI: Yeah that was very satisfying to be in a testy little spot when I go double, bogey, bogey. It's like, I'm leading the tournament and now I'm at the cut line. So to turn around and play really well feels great.
Q. How would you describe today?
PETER MALNATI: It was crazy. You know, it's just very golf like to be out there and feel a little lost and overwhelmed the first six holes, seven holes, and then played just like I did yesterday for the next however many holes. It was crazy.
Q. You have to be proud of the bounce-back and also to get in, you were eight under yesterday and you get in as of right now, you're only one shot back. How much did the golf course change? Were you surprised to see where the scoring has stacked up the way that it has?
PETER MALNATI: I don't really know. I'm surprised -- it looks like there were plenty of low ones out there today, again. But no one shot two of the low ones yet it doesn't look like. Probably make it to 11- or 12-under for something before we get done but it's not going to get crazy.
The golf course is going to continue to firm up over the weekend but it's so much fun. It's so scorable and the greens are rolling so well that you're going to see a lot more birdies this weekend, too.
I came out, honestly I played good, solid golf. You never know what's going to happen after a break, and I played great yesterday and today I was able to respond to quite a challenge with starting, I think I was 5-over through seven holes.
So to come back and get it, my caddie talked about, hey, let's chip away and get back to even par for the day. So to get one better shows the good play from yesterday was no fluke; the bad five holes, we'll call that the fluke. I'm proud of this and come out of the break playing well.
Q. An interesting round, 5-under through seven and battled back to shoot under par. How would you describe it?
PETER MALNATI: I think it was just kind of crazy. It was funny, as I was working my way to 5-over through seven, I was thinking, you know what, I feel pretty good. I feel like I'm playing okay. My game feels about like it did yesterday. Nothing was crazy. I hit a couple bad iron shots. I hit a bad tee shot but still felt really good.
So just kind of tried to hang in there. It was I think really important that I made a tricky little putt for birdie on 8. It was only maybe eight or ten feet but it was a difficult putt and I made it. That sort of kind of calmed everything down, so yeah, it felt just like yesterday. It didn't feel that different from yesterday, the first seven holes but the results were a little different.
Q. Was staying positive the key?
PETER MALNATI: I'm not going to lie, I had a great role model out there. I was playing with Rory Sabbatini, I don't know if anyone knows him but he is tough and strong and deals with vert like a champ. I was watching him and I'm like, yes -- that's not really true.
Staying positive is kind of something that I am always pretty good at and I just -- I felt fine. I didn't feel like -- sometimes when you're 5-over through seven, you're like, crap, I lost it, I didn't know what's going on. But I felt fine. I was still okay on the 8th tee and it was nice to get things back in the good groove.
Yeah, staying positive is kind of my M.O., anyway, but it got tested today and it was nice to be able to get it turned around.
Q. Seeing one putt fall can change things; is that what happened on 18?
PETER MALNATI: Yeah, it seemed like it did and honestly like I said, I was in a pretty good mindset, even though the double on the 6th hole was really squirrely and then on 7, I hit an atrocious iron shot. Then hit a great bunker shot and hit a 6-footer to save par, and I felt like I did everything right and the putt just didn't go in.
At that point you start thinking, oh, no, is it one of those days where I can't do anything right. To get the putt to go in on the 8th hole was big for me to see something go in the right direction and after that it snowballed in the positive way after that.
Q. One back going into the weekend, what's your mindset?
PETER MALNATI: Just try to do my best. Obviously I'm trying to work my way into a place where I'm consistently in contention and consistently having chances to win tournaments and getting to play my way into where I can play in some of the bigger tournaments and all that stuff. It's fun to think about all that and dreaming about all that and playing in the majors and World Golf Championships and all that.
But tomorrow when I come out here, my mindset needs to be: I'm going to go do my best and that's the way I'm going to make that all happen. So, I do have the dreams and it's fun to think like that, but when I come out tomorrow, no real strategy or anything. Just try to have fun and do my best.
Q. What do you think has held you back from getting to that level of being in contention more often?
PETER MALNATI: I think every golfer would tell you this, but it's really true for me. At times in my career, I've driven the ball straight but not far, good. I've all been pretty good putter but seems like the times when I get my ball-striking clicking, it's like, oh, the putter is not quite there. So it's just a matter of -- I think my strengths, when I'm good, I'm good enough in all the areas. I just need to put it all together. It's starting to feel like I'm getting closer and closer to that, so that's exciting.
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