Q. Let's first talk about your game today. Things seemed just a bit off but is it fair to say you manufactured a score today?
JUSTIN THOMAS: For sure. Yeah, it was weird, I drove it great today. I felt like I drove it better, other than two drives, than yesterday. But yeah, just didn't have the sharpness today. I've never seen wind switch around this place like it did today. It was crazy. It just felt like every shot it was doing something different than it either was supposed to do or the shot before that, and in a place like this when it starts getting firmer, you have to be very precise. You can look pretty stupid. You look at the shots that we hit into 12 today, I looked behind us, Hideki looked like he was posing on one that landed eight yards short of the green. It's weird; when it's this light, it can swirl around a lot, but everybody had to deal with it, and yeah, so I was glad to finish off those last five holes or six holes how I did.
Q. Your short game was on point, scrambling for par saves. You're in position for the weekend. I wanted to ask you about 18 there for Luke. What did you tell him after?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I just told him to keep his head up and he's a hell of a player. He's going to play out here for a really long time. It's hard to say in the moment because it's obviously really bummed and he fought really hard, and I enjoyed playing with him. I made sure to remind him that I hit it past him on 18 there for the first time, and maybe ever. But he's a great player. He's not only going to play out here a long time, he's going to win out here, and it's just a matter of time kind of thing.
Q. The approach shots on 18; you've faced it when you have a chance to win a golf tournament or a big moment like he had. How do you handle the adrenaline of the moment?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's like anything. He'll be able to learn from this just like I've learned from it and other guys have learned from it. It is, it's the hardest part I think about 16 is you have so much adrenaline, you're so jacked up and you have to hit a really precise short iron in there with a lot of control, and you just want to hit a driver as hard as you can.
He knows what he's doing. He's obviously been in some big moments and that's the fun part of where he's at. Each stage is something bigger and bigger, to be trying to win a golf tournament and then trying to win a major, so on, so forth. I look forward to playing against him for a long time.
Q. You've got a chance this weekend, don't you?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely, yeah, I'm excited. I've gotten it around really well the last two days, so just sharpen it up a little bit and see what we can do.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports