Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your round today?
STEVE STRICKER: It was a good, solid round. I didn't get off to a fast start by any means, so kind of saw Freddy playing well and kind of spurred me on to kick myself in the rear end and get going. So I played better coming in. Left a couple out there.
The greens and the course are so pure, it's in great shape, so if you don't make a putt, it's usually because you just didn't start it on line.
But finished strong. Three back, it's a long -- it's two more days, but Freddy played well, it was fun to watch, and yeah, hopefully put together a couple more good rounds.
Q. Just thoughts on Freddy; I heard he really drove the ball pretty well today.
STEVE STRICKER: Yeah, he did everything well. He drove it in the fairway. He hit some really nice irons, and I actually putted really well. He made one from off the green on No. 8. But hit just quality shots in the right spots of the green and was a very stressless round. He played very well.
Q. Was the attendance or lack of today, this weekend, noticeable at all?
STEVE STRICKER: You know, I mean, I've played the last few times on the regular TOUR in Florida and there have been more fans. It's a little disappointing we don't have fans here, or many of them, but it's still nice to see some people out here. You know, I can understand the logistics out on the Black Course; it doesn't lend itself really to get the people around there. I think that probably had something to do with it.
But yeah, I was disappointed to see that we weren't going to have fans here this week, not like -- I played at Bay Hill and at the Honda where there was quite a bit more people and tickets being sold and stuff like that. But still great to be here. It's Naples. We've got great weather, and the course is pure.
Q. Is it fun for you; it's like you and Freddy and Bernhard is up there at 7-under, these weekends when the leaderboards are like that?
STEVE STRICKER: Oh, yeah, you're playing against the greats of the game. Bernhard is just unbelievable. Every time you see him up on that board at -- what is he, 63? To see him up there and still shooting the scores that he's shooting, shoot, it won't be long and he'll be shooting his age, right? It's very impressive.
These guys are here for a reason. They've all played well over their careers, had great careers, many of them Hall-of-Famers. I played one of those guys today, and he makes it look so effortless at times.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports