Q. Really good round today, currently tied for the clubhouse lead. What was working out there for you today?
RICO HOEY: I was just, kind of just keeping it in front of me. I had a great group. I play a lot of practice rounds with J.J. Spaun, so he's been playing well, and I'm just trying to hop on his train and keep playing well like he is so, yeah.
Q. When you have a guy like J.J. who is also playing some good golf, how does that kind of rub off on you and almost push you to maybe attack a little more?
RICO HOEY: I love playing with J.J., he hits the ball great, he putts it really great too, so everything he does is awesome. For me watching it firsthand up close it's pretty cool. He's just striping it, so I'm like, All right, it makes the target a lot easier knowing the guy's inside 15 feet every hole, so it's like, All right, there's a lot of room there so, you know, so yeah.
Q. The general game plan for these three courses is La Quinta, Nicklaus are ones that are maybe deemed a little more gettable, then you go attack the Stadium. How does your game plan shift from the first two days going into tomorrow?
RICO HOEY: You can never predict how you're going to play. Tomorrow I'm just going to do what I can, warm-up, and just hit the best shot that I can possibly do. Tomorrow I'm just going to let it flow and let it happen.
Q. Great save on the finish there. Last year as well on the Nicklaus Tournament, also 63, and you opened with that one. You dig this golf course.
RICO HOEY: Yeah, yeah, I wish we were playing like four rounds out here. But, no, yeah, I just like Nicklaus, I played a lot of junior events out here, so just feels like I'm home and just, yeah, it's great. Weather's awesome, so we don't really have too many tough conditions with the wind and whatnot. Made it a lot easier to score.
Q. Your history and familiarity with this property goes back pretty deep.
RICO HOEY: Yeah, so I remember growing up and when I was five and six, like there was a TOUR called the CV tour the Coachella Valley Tour, I played those one-day events and even SCPGA, SCGA stuff. The desert has been great to a lot of junior golfers, hosting a lot of tournament play, so coming back as a pro now and reminiscing on some of the old days that I used to do.
Q. A lot of SoCal flavor, I would say, on the leaderboard up there, Charley Hoffman, he's right there, obviously San Diego guy, J.J. Spaun, Rickie Fowler is up there, he's in the top 10, Patrick Cantlay as well he's in the top 10, so it's fun to see that heading into day three. Is that something you notice?
RICO HOEY: For me this is my second year on TOUR, so I'm still kind of starstruck with a lot of those guys, Hoffman, Cantlay, Rickie, and whatnot. For me it's really cool just to put my name out there and just keeping up with them, so that's all I'm trying to do. For me I just want to keep getting better, so that's the goal every day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports