Q. Have you ever started a round as good as you did today in your career?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I don't think in a tournament. I've probably done it at home at some point. But no, I don't think so.
Q. What's been kind of the change for you this year? I know you started off a little bit slow to the season, but you've been building and now you're leading the tournament going into the weekend.
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, for sure. I said it previously, I saw some nice things over the weekend at Pebble in my game. I saw some nice things at Riv, even though I got off to a slow start in the tournament. Yeah, just kind of progressively getting better.
I feel like I've understood a little bit more what's important for me in my golf swing and kind of sticking to that, not necessarily trying to look away other ways around it, and keeping it very simple.
I think my mind is very good when it's simple, and when things are very easy, and that's what I've felt like I've been able to do over the last couple of weeks.
Q. The stat that stood out on paper today was your strokes gained approach. Did it feel like your irons were really good today?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, I think overall I felt like I was striking it quite nice. I kind of got away with a few tee balls in the middle of the round where I wasn't hitting the fairways necessarily. But yeah, I think I got away with a few for sure.
But overall, I feel like my iron play has been pretty good lately, the last couple weeks. I saw it at Bay Hill as well last week. Super pleased with the way I was hitting it.
Q. Are you sensing any advantages of this being your home course? And do you play at all throughout the year or try to stay away from it when it's not tournament conditions?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, perhaps. Like you said, I play here every now and then. I've seen the golf course in probably every wind possible, which I know this week we're going to have some different winds. Is there an advantage to it? Maybe. But Sawgrass is also a golf course where you have to execute golf shots, and I love the golf course because it's right in front of you. It's very straightforward, but you still have to do it.
Is there an advantage? Maybe. But you still have to hit the shots.
Q. How often do you play it throughout the year?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I haven't played here -- before the Tuesday practice round I hadn't played here since before New Year's. But I like to get out because, tee to green, it's an unbelievable golf course, so I always like to get out here every now and then. I haven't been too much lately. I haven't really been here.
But I always try to play it if I'm home for a little bit.
Q. You played with Si Woo today. He started today on the cut line. Can you talk about how hard he worked to get to the number today, just watching him play?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, Si Woo is a fun player. He's fun to watch. He hit some shots both today and yesterday where I'm like, that's pretty cool.
Yeah, he ended up making a number on 17, which wasn't great. But great up-and-down on 18 to potentially make the cut.
Yeah, that's what's fun about golf sometimes. You're trying to win tournaments, but you're also trying to make the weekend. Yeah, he's a fun player to play with.
Q. You're a pretty fast player, but you're playing well and you're stuck in a twosome where you're waiting a lot. How hard was that to keep the momentum?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: Yeah, it was a challenge for sure. I thought -- it's no secret that I'm a fast player and I like it fast. Naturally, when you get kind of stuck on a few tee boxes, you kind of get out of your rhythm a little bit. But all I could do was just try to control me, control my routines. It's just kind of the time in between the routines just gets much longer. But yeah, try to keep it loose with Joe, try to have a good time and enjoy it. The weather today was really nice, so it was quite nice.
Q. What is your main move in that situation, just try to talk?
LUDVIG ÅBERG: I think so. You kind of feel out the situation. Sometimes I talk, sometimes I don't. Sometimes it's nice to be by yourself, but sometimes you can tell a story or something funny, like that. But keeping it very light and very natural.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports