Q. Thoughts on the day?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was weird, I'm going to have to sit back and think about how it was. Obviously 6-under is great. I'd love that every round of golf I play. Bogey-free made it pretty stress-free. I was a little upset or disappointed with some of the iron shots I hit. Felt I could have hit them closer but nice to play that last hole as well as I did to hopefully generate some momentum.
The speed of the greens, I think all of us had a hard time getting them to the hole on some of them. So just getting accustomed to that. I felt like a couple putts, if I would have had the speed correct, I would have made.
Overall, drove it well. Had a couple drives that were loose but for the most part just a solid day.
Q. How do you do that, obviously the greens are quicker on the PGA TOUR. How do you come over here and adapt?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Well, it's the same of any week. You have three days to adapt and get used to it. I hit a lot of putts, a lot of lag putts, and just spent a lot of time trying to get used to it. Everybody else has to deal with the same thing and that's really just what I've tried to use Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for.
Q. The one on 7, that wasn't a lag putt, was it,
JUSTIN THOMAS: No, it was not. That was a steal. You obviously never plan on making a 100-footer or whatever it was but the hole got in the way perfectly.
Q. Good preparation for The Open or do you want the wind to blow a bit?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't care; as long as I'm holding the trophy at the end of the week, I'm pretty pleased with that preparation for The Open.
Q. The preparation, bogey-free, can't get any better, can it?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Like I said, it was just a pretty easy day. Had the nice par save there on 9. Good up-and-down on 11. But for the most part it was pretty low-stress. I just put the ball in play. I mean, I know what sides of the holes, the fairways you need to miss on if you miss and I felt like I did a pretty good job of that and if I got out of position, just tried to get around the green and made par.
Q. How do you feel playing back here again?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's great. Playing with fans is incredible. I was so excited when we had them at THE PLAYERS for the first time a couple months ago, but the fans here are awesome. They are so passionate and respectful. We were joking it's nice to get some collapse when you hit a 5-iron to 30 or 40 feet.
Rory obviously didn't play very well for his standards and we know he can do better but Jon and I were kind of feeding off each other a little bit and just trying to stay in the tournament.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports