Q. What makes a day like this happen, practice?
BYEONG HUN AN: Good golf.
(Laughter).
I don't know, it's just golf, right? I struggled on Thursday. I was hitting it pretty well all week, even last week. Struggled in putting a little bit on Thursday.
Yesterday I putted okay, hit it okay. Yesterday was a very mediocre round. It was a normal golf round. First day was very poor.
It's one of those courses, I think, if you hit it well, you can make a lot of birdies because it's not really a long golf course. But when you hit it off the line or a little bit off, you're having trouble making the pars out here.
Yeah, that wasn't the case for me today. I hit it pretty decent, drove the ball great, hit it pretty close, and made a lot of putts.
Q. Any stress except for maybe the last hole or two?
BYEONG HUN AN: Yeah, there are a few holes, a few stressful holes. Like hole No. 4, I wasn't trying to get that close. I got away with it.
Some of the holes, I think I made some good pars. Holes like 14, I hit it way left, but that was a miss.
Q. Where's the pin today? I haven't seen it yet.
BYEONG HUN AN: Front right.
Q. What are you supposed to do there, Ben, on a front right pin with a cement green?
BYEONG HUN AN: At least the tee was up. So I hit a 9-iron, so it wasn't a problem stopping on the green. Wind's coming off from the right helping a little bit. When you flare a little bit, it goes into the wind, it could go short. Especially I hit a draw, so it's hard for me to keep it on the flag, so I aim left half of the green and try to draw it.
Left side is okay usually for the right flag. That's one of the harder holes out here. I think all these par-3s can get really tricky. That was pretty good.
18, just a poor second shot. I got lucky, I had a decent lie to get it on the green. I'll take bogey after that second shot, which was pretty poor.
Q. Take me through the putter change. What compelled you to swap it out?
BYEONG HUN AN: After Friday last week -- I got the putter on Tuesday. I didn't want to put it in play before a couple sessions. I had the putter in my locker for a whole week. After two days, on Saturday morning, I brought it. I putted decent, but it wasn't like great.
I thought this third round at Augusta is the perfect day to try it and see what happens. I wasn't playing that great. I was 30-something going into the weekend. Let's give it a go. I putted decent.
It was interchangeable, I think. It was a good change. I really like how it looked. I think it rolled a little bit better on Saturday morning when I tested it. Yeah, that's the putter change right there.
Q. Was there something you were trying to eliminate with the putter or just get a new feel?
BYEONG HUN AN: Just a new feel. I putted well with the other one. I know the guys from Scotty Cameron Titleist, they tried to make a new putter for me. They tried everything, all the effort they put in. So I had to give it a go.
I actually really like the new head they came out with. They look great, and they roll pretty good. I don't see a reason why not to test it, and tested, like you said, last weekend. It was pretty good.
Thursday was a struggle, but yesterday and today, rolled in some good putts.
Q. I have to ask you, Ben, there was a trash can outside of scoring yesterday with about four clubs in it. Yours?
BYEONG HUN AN: Maybe (laughter). I don't know, a lot of guys use Titleist clubs out there and grayish grips. Yeah, I have the irons right now in my bag, so I don't know who -- that's an interesting question. I've seen it last three days. It's still there.
I don't know why, but I've been checking every day. It's right there.
Q. Are they still there?
BYEONG HUN AN: Yeah, they're still there. I bet you they'll be there tomorrow too.
Q. It's almost like a symbol of this is golf?
BYEONG HUN AN: Like I said, this course can get really tough when you're struggling, especially on the greens. I remember I struggled last year all four days on the putting greens. There's so minimal breaks, a lot of grains. Once your read's off, you're going to struggle all day because there's very fine margins.
I got really frustrated, and it definitely is one of those golf courses you can really get frustrated. Hitting good shots too, you might get blocked by some of the trees. You have to get some good bounces here and there.
Like I said on Thursday, everything was kind of going against me. I had to grind hard to make it -- I think I was 1-over going to 17. Hit a great shot on 17 and finished long over the green and made a double. Had some heat coming in, but I'm glad that I have another set of clubs (laughter).
Q. We'll see where this goes at the end of the day, but you show up on Friday, what are you, 13, 14 shots out of the lead?
BYEONG HUN AN: I think something like that. He shot -- no. 10-under, so 13 off.
Q. We'll see where it takes you.
BYEONG HUN AN: I hope so. That's the beauty of the no cut events. I probably miss the cut after yesterday because I was coming in 57. Now I've got a good chance on the weekend. We'll see. They still haven't teed off yet. We'll see what they post.
At least I have a chance tomorrow to get something out of it, top 10, top 5, whatever it could be. It's a lot better than going into Sunday with, I don't know, starting 57th. So that will be nice.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports