Q. Sam, 5-under, 66. Nice round. Just get some comments on your play.
SAM RYDER: Yeah, just been pretty consistent. Haven't really gone backwards much. Only one bogey; couple nice saves. You know, 7 of 8 up and down. This course you just got to keep it between the rocks. The green complexes are tough.
I always feel strong with my irons. That's a strength of my game. As long as I can continue to hit fairways -- I think I hit 12 of 14 today -- so as long as I can put the ball in the short grass I feel like I can attack and play to my strengths.
Q. Take us through the finish there, birdie, birdie on the last two.
SAM RYDER: Yeah, pretty nice fit with just a 9-iron on No. 8, my 17th hole. Hit it to the side that I knew I could. Kind of worked off the slope there and just had a pretty straightforward left-to-right 6-, 7-footer.
And then some of these tee balls, like the last tee ball on 9, my last hole, they're visually intimidating. There is some room if you get committed to your target, hit a good to drive, and kind of wind was off the right; just tried to holed up a little hybrid.
Was able to stick it on the green and gave it a good run but missed the eagle putt. Pretty stress-free. It's always nice. Felt like I tried to stay patient today. Following up a round where you shoot 7-under, going back out in the morning you're trying to pick up where you left off; doesn't always work that way.
I felt like I had to ease my way into the round and stay patient, and I'm pretty satisfied with the score.
Q. You mentioned you put in some good work lately with your coach. What have you been working on?
SAM RYDER: He's actually caddieing for me this week. Unfortunately my normal caddie, Brent Everson, his mom passed this week so he went home, which was the best thing for him. Adam Schriber is caddieing for me. I've spent some time with him. We've been really close. It's felt really close.
Really just trying to -- some simple feels that have worked for me trying to get my right arm a little bit more in front of me. Helps me with my driver. Driving has been bit of a struggle for me.
I'm doing some of these rehearsals where I'm working my right arm a lot trying to feel like it doesn't get stuck behind me. Gets in front of me and I can feel the club squaring up, so it allows me to rotate a little more freely.
Q. How much different is the dynamic when it's your coach inside the ropes with you?
SAM RYDER: Yeah, it's different. But he knows me really well. We been together for over a decade. He caddied for me on the Canadian Tour, Web.com Tour, Korn Ferry TOUR, so it's pretty familiar even for us. He does a good job knowing how to transition from coach to caddie. We're not out there tinkering with my swing. We're playing golf and competing and trying get into the shots.
He's caddied for a lot of his players throughout the years. He really enjoys it because it's a good way for him to learn what I'm working on, what I'm struggling with, things that -- sometimes looking at ShotLink doesn't always tell the story.
It's productive either way. But we're just really trying to just have fun and play golf and compete.
Q. Just wandering back to the course a little bit, you mentioned the rocks and everything. Did it take a little longer to get settled, new course and what it throws at you?
SAM RYDER: Yeah, definitely some of these tee balls are blind were you're looking at rocks. I think that's hard, especially for some higher handicap amateur golfers that come out here and it's very visually intimidating.
Once you get familiar with your lines that's really important. Then you realize I have some room. Obviously penal if you get off like some other courses we play.
But yeah, you just got to make good, confident, committed swings at targets that you feel comfortable with. Like I said, there is room, but you just have to -- there is a few tee balls where you just have to man up and hit a good one.
Q. Any shots this week that you normally would like to hit that you can't?
SAM RYDER: No. I feel like with -- I feel like the way -- like to hit more of a cut off the tee especially. You're not crowded off the tee. You can shape whatever you want because it's open. Even if the hole maybe sets up as a dogleg left you still have room to start it left and hit kind of whatever shot you want.
So really just playing golf. I'm hitting a little bit of both. When I play my best I feel like I do both, so trying to get a little bit more control of the club face and just play golf.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports