Q. Another really solid round today. What was working for you today and what have you been able to do to really attack these courses?
JUSTIN LOWER: Today was a little different than yesterday. I did not drive it as well as I did yesterday. I drove it pretty poorly, actually. Luckily, the course was a little wider and I missed it in the right areas. Kind of thank God I can putt, because there were some times there where it could have gotten really ugly. Yeah, putter saved me a little bit, and hopefully just work on the tee shots a little bit and go into tomorrow and Sunday with just a little more freedom off the tee.
Q. You said you didn't drive it as well, but you said your putter saved you. Being able to kind of scramble and still be able to convert even when something's not going as well as you wanted does that give you any confidence going into the weekend?
JUSTIN LOWER: It does, yeah. If I can -- kind of like the round yesterday, if I can get it in the fairway off the tee I can be pretty aggressive into the greens. Then once I get on the green I feel very comfortable, so it's just a matter of getting on the green as quickly as possible and going from there.
Q. Obviously a little different of a course setup this week with three courses, how do you manage playing a different one for the first three days and having a 54-hole cut, how do you manage each course and the game plan for each one?
JUSTIN LOWER: Yeah, luckily it's been the same rotation, this is my fourth year here, so I know what to expect at each course. Each course has their own little nuance to it, so it's, like whether one's a little firmer, one's a little softer, one's a little more generous off the tee, stuff like that. So just knowing what to expect is huge. Then obviously with the pro-am format you have to be a little more patient, rounds go a little slower than normal. So, yeah, just taking your time and just kind of going from there.
Q. You seem to have accomplished the goal of your rotation, which is to play well the first two days, get up on the leaderboard, and have to sleep on Stadium Course tonight. Did you get a practice round in at Stadium?
JUSTIN LOWER: Oh, yeah.
Q. So you know the greens seem to be a little firmer than they have been.
JUSTIN LOWER: Yeah, I played nine Monday and I played nine Wednesday over there. I will say Wednesday it was drastically softer than what it was Monday. I remember showing up Monday and I was like, this is, it was kind of major championship level fast and firm. I do know that they have tried to soften it up a little bit, I know they can't go too soft with the greens being new, it could ruin 'em, almost. Yeah, I mean, we're all kind of going through it, we all kind of knew what we were getting into going in. My caddie came out before we went to Hawaii and he told me what was going on over there, so I kind of expected it.
Q. 66 today, but two bogeys. Normally two bogeys, you're kind of dead around here, but you're at the top of the leaderboard. Were the bogeys because you didn't drive it well?
JUSTIN LOWER: Yeah, the one hole I hit it out of bounds with a 3-wood, of all clubs, just a really bad swing. Then bogey on the par-5, 15 was -- you could have led it from the tee shot as well -- it was just really six bad shots is what it was, nothing good about it. That was kind of my round today. I hit a couple good ones in a row, then one bad one, and just was just trying to eliminate the bad ones as much as I could.
Q. Currently part of a three-way tie for first. You knocked on the door more than a few times for that first TOUR win. How comfortable are you heading into round three?
JUSTIN LOWER: I'm getting more comfortable. Still, there's still some discomfort there, for sure, I would say. It's a little different playing at the top and whatnot, but it's where we all want to be, it's what we all strive for, so yeah, just really trying to take it one shot at a time, as cliche as that is, but that's the best way to do it.
Q. Tournaments across the TOUR schedule comes in all shapes and sizes, very proud of the history at this tournament, we're in the 66th consecutive year of the American Express. For you to potentially grab that first win at a tournament with that history what would it mean to you?
JUSTIN LOWER: It would mean everything, that would be really cool. Yeah, with these conditions, it's going to be a shoot-out, so anyone, it's anyone's tournament still.
Q. With the conditions like this, with the weather kind of pretty much perfect, does that put any extra pressure on you to be aggressive to be going for everything on every hole?
JUSTIN LOWER: I don't think it puts more pressure on you, I think you just have to know that you're going to have to play well to maintain or even improve your spot on the leaderboard, just because of the conditions. Regardless of the conditions, even if it was blowing 30 out here, someone figures it out every day, it's just kind of the nature of the TOUR out here. Yeah, I think it just let's you know that you have to keep the pedal down, basically, so that's all I'm trying to do.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports