Q. Andrew, smooth 65 today to get right in the mix into Sunday. What was clicking today, and how do you feel about how you played today?
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, I feel like my attack clubs have been very good all week. Wedges have been nice. Short irons have been on point. That's allowed me to make a lot of birdies.
I got some of the longer clubs into it today, as well. I hit a great 5-wood in on 5, a great 5-iron on 7. Gave myself a lot of looks through that. A few stupid mistakes on the front nine but cleaned it up on the back nine. Overall, a really solid day.
Q. Will the experience last year on Sunday here help you in any way tomorrow?
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, a little bit. It's really all of my experiences of being around the lead. It's a bunched leaderboard. Nobody has really separated yet. I'm going to be maybe a few shots back going into tomorrow, but it's going to take a pretty low one, I think, because there's enough guys up there, somebody is going to put together a pretty good round.
I think I kind of got to go in with the same kind of attack mentality as today and get it going, go post a number, and see how guys handle the wind late.
Q. Can you talk through your ninth hole? I know we saw some pictures --
ANDREW NOVAK: I don't know if they have video of that or not. I don't know how my ball ended up where it did, but I had nothing. I could have chipped it out short of the green, but where I would have chipped to would have been horrible. So I just putted it down the cart path and tried to set up my angle. I did exactly what I wanted to do, got it in a pretty good spot, and my wedge just kind of checked up a bit.
From where that ball ended up next to that tree, I was pretty much dead. I was staring at bogey anyway. I played it the way that I thought gave me the best chance of making par and at least taking a big number out of there. Bogey was the worst I was going to make going that way. Kind of lived to fight another day. Nice bounce-back on 10 right after that to get it back and get going on the back nine.
Q. How often do you practice that type of putt?
ANDREW NOVAK: Probably never, putting with a tree in my swing and no stance. It really was just advance the ball down the cart path and figure it out later.
Q. What is it about this course that's kind of conducive to your game?
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, I'm local here. I'm from around this area. This feels like home to me. This is the kind of golf course that I feel like I've played many times growing up. It's positional golf. If you're in the wrong spots, you're going to be punished because if you don't have the right angle, there's nothing you can really do about it.
If you're out of position, you're playing to a spot to get you back in position to give you a chance to make par. If you're in position, then you're attacking. To me, that feels like home to me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports