THE MODERATOR: We're here with Padraig Harrington, 3-under 67. Nice playing out there, Padraig. Can you just talk us through the round? Pretty clean scorecard.
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I hit some good shots. I'd love to play with a little more confidence in my game tee to green. I've been putting well.
Yeah, I should be a bit more because I am putting well. That should take the pressure off me. I seem to be a little bit tentative with my approach shots. Obviously I'm in a nice place, and maybe more of the same is what I want, but it feels like I could free up a little.
Q. You did mention that you're second in the field in putting. How much have you been relying on the flat stick?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: I said a while ago I turned the corner with my putting. It's showing up very nicely. I'm going to keep trying to stay in that mode, but I'd like to maybe, as I said, free up a little bit with my approach shot.
It's hard not to be tentative at times out there. The pin positions at times, it's a U.S. Open, so you don't want to make mistakes. So you have to choose your battles.
Obviously with 36 holes to go, hopefully I play with a little bit more freedom, a little bit more confidence.
Q. You've obviously been here before. How are you going to rely on that or lean on that experience this weekend?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Look, as I said, I'd like to play well on the weekend, but if I don't play well, I'm going to try to win this tournament another way. It's just one of those things that with experience I know things don't go your way at times when you're leading, and things can feel like bad breaks. You can maybe get -- you miss a few more greens, so you have to get up-and-down a little bit more.
I've seen it before. It doesn't mean I have any perfect ability to deal with it. I've certainly seen all these situations. So I won't be surprised by anything, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to handle it that well either.
Q. On this course and these conditions?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Obviously I putted quite nicely. I missed a couple of putts coming home. So I could have been a few better.
The scoring, you can score well, and I think what you're seeing is people who are -- you know, with the cut line, are starting to play a little bit better and take advantage of the course. You can do that. I think maybe we're all a little bit afraid of doing it because it's a U.S. Open.
If you're going to be in the lead at a U.S. Open, you're thinking a par is never a bad thing. So there is opportunities to make birdies out there. There's plenty of wedge shots. So yeah, you can make birdies, but chasing a few pins, maybe you'll get in trouble.
Look, I'll have to wait and see for myself at the weekend.
Q. (Zoom froze). How did the course play today compared to yesterday?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: It played short this afternoon. In the afternoon it heats up. I know it was hot yesterday morning, but it's it just started to play short. The ball was running out. There was a bit of breeze.
But I think every person who was on the golf course was thankful for that breeze. It's very rare that we want it to be windy. It definitely helps that it wasn't anywhere near as warm this afternoon. It didn't feel as warm as it did yesterday.
Q. Do you walk off the course today feeling you've got every shot out there you could, or do you walk off feeling that you -- realistically, you might have left something out there?
PADRAIG HARRINGTON: Never. I walked off the golf course thinking I got -- I stole one or two yesterday. Today I walk off the golf course going it probably was about right. I definitely had a few chances more that I could have made there on -- was it 6 and 7?
Yeah, look, I could have been a couple better at the end, but probably yesterday's was a good return for the way I played, and today's was about right.
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