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QUICKEN LOANS NATIONAL

August 1, 2015

Troy Merritt

GAINESVILLE, VIRGINIA

Q. It was fun to watch from our perspective. How was it from yours?
TROY MERRITT: It was fun. I hit the ball pretty much like I did the first two days. The biggest difference was the first two days I missed 11 putts inside of 12 feet. Today they all went right in the hole. Golf in a funny game like that. Found a little bit something on the putting green. Squared my shoulders up just slightly. As a result, I was picking the ball up out of the hole versus tapping it in.

Q. You're done so you get to watch everybody else play. At the day's end, where will you will be on the leaderboard?
TROY MERRITT: Watching the Top-10. There's a lot of birdies out there. I don't think I'll be on top of the leaderboard but, nonetheless, played really well and the big thing is we put ourselves into contention for tomorrow and that was the goal. I wanted to have a good week this week and I've been taking weekends off for two months now and I'm going to play like this on Saturdays, I might want to play tomorrow.

Q. How does this change your mindset heading into tomorrow?
TROY MERRITT: No different. The weather is going to be hot. Just keep -- just keep conserving energy. We don't like humidity in Idaho. I don't like it as a result. Just keep hitting the ball well, have good game plan off the tees, take chances when I can into the greens. Some of the pin locations tomorrow looks like pretty tough, tough to get it to. If I can get in there 10, 12, 15 feet, the way I putted today, I've got a chance tomorrow.

Q. Congratulations on a great day. See you tomorrow.
TROY MERRITT: Thank you.

Q. Troy, 61 today. Have you been playing like this all week, just it clicked today?
TROY MERRITT: We found something Tuesday afternoon in the set-up in the full swing late in the day that really changed the face ball-striking. Moved the hands forward slightly at address. Really quality, good shots. No guess work. Don't have to time it at the bottom to try to get it to go where I want. I hit it really solid the first few days. First few days missed a lot of makeable putts. Today found the bottom.

Q. What were the conditions like early this morning. Were the greens perfect?
TROY MERRITT: Just a hint of a breeze. They were still soft. They were rolling pretty smoothly and a lot less traffic on them today than when we played yesterday afternoon. Rolled pretty smooth and took advantage of that.

Q. Let's take a look at this on 15. Middle of the fairway.
TROY MERRITT: Took just a little off an 8-iron. Playing about 165 so trying to land it on the front, let it chase up there and did just that, left yourself about 10, 12-footer above the hole.

Q. Do you find when you are on a run like this you're getting good distances and good clubs you like?
TROY MERRITT: Yes and no. Today we had a couple in betweeners but we were able to do the best with it. Couple that we hit that went a little bit too long. It wasn't rock solid but it was good.

Q. This is at 17 out of the bunker.
TROY MERRITT: This was tough. Ball below the feet, trying to hit it somewhere 30 feet right of the hole and let it spin down. Turned over slightly. Good read there. Off the right and found the bottom.

Q. Going in the middle of the cup which is always nice. This is 18, a long attempt to try and really put a low score up there.
TROY MERRITT: Just up the hill against the lake. Didn't think I hit it that firmly. Gave it a good run. Not a putt I was looking for coming down the hill but we struggled with the read on it and my caddy had it inside right. Went a hair straight.

Q. Let's take a look at your golf swing from Harbour Town. Tell us what you're trying to work on, little bit what you talked about that you found this week.
TROY MERRITT: I've had to shut it down just a little. The shoulders are a little open. It doesn't bother me, feet little more square. Little open. Used to playing a fade. For me it's just all about takeaway. Nice and smooth, straight back. I have to wait for it just a second on the top otherwise I get quick and the ball gets going right. As long as everything is good there it should be good at the bottom and hit the ball well that week.

Q. So the toughest thing on Tour is to follow-up a really low round and play well. What do you feel like you have to do tomorrow to try to keep this momentum going in the fine round?
TROY MERRITT: Build on it. I finally made putts. It's frustrating the first few days hitting the ball really, really well and having good proximity to the hole and not getting much out of it. Today I hit the ball really well, got a lot out of it, obviously, with a 61 and just kind of keep building off that. The swing is there. I think we're going to have a decent chance tomorrow.

Q. Definitely taking moving day literally. 61 moving up the leaderboard. Saturday is moving today, 61 will do it.
TROY MERRITT: 61 is real good. Today was a little bit different than the other two days. The first two days the ball-striking was there and the putter wasn't quite there. Thursday we're missing it on the low side, on Friday we're missing it on the high side. Today they're going in the center. Got the shoulders squared up on the putting green before the round and made all the difference. We were able to take advantage of the quality iron shots.

Q. Speaking on going on a run, you went on the birdie streak early --
TROY MERRITT: I have a knack for going low every now and then, to get off to good starts and always a little bit of a lull after that. Making birdie on 12 was a huge momentum gain. Then went on to birdie 13, 14, 15 making good putts. Just take a one shot at a time, focus on targets, hit the shots and then just commit to lines and the lines were right.

Q. You had a number of good shots today but the one out of the fairway bunker uphill on the 17th I thought was very special. Your thoughts on that.
TROY MERRITT: That was probably the best shot I hit all day. Was 131, downhill lie, ball well below the feet. Hit gap wedge to get it 25, 30 feet right of hole and keep it on the left side of the slope so I didn't have a long squirrely one. I turned it over just slightly, made great contact and it got right in there to 12 feet and able to capitalize on it.

Q. Any thoughts on tomorrow?
TROY MERRITT: Just kind of keep doing what I'm doing. The ball strikes have been there all week. The putter was good today. If we're not going to go flag hunting tomorrow, if we can get it out to 15, 18 feet, the way I rolled it today I'll be pretty confident on the greens and maybe we can make one or two early to get things going.

Q. Also had another Iowan win a Major in the last month. What would it mean to an Iowa native?
TROY MERRITT: Mixed feelings. I was looking forward to going home Saturday night for a day and a half. You pull off the W you get two more weeks in a row. I haven't been home in six and a half, seven weeks now so I'm just happy to have the chance just to get out here and play golf and take advantage of the things that I did today and hopefully we can put ourself into a position tomorrow to capitalize.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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