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CIMB CLASSIC

October 31, 2015

Brendan Steele

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Brendan Steele to the interview room following the third round at the CIMB Classic. Brendan is 20-under par and tied for the lead with Justin Thomas. The total of 196 through 54 holes is a tournament record. Brendan is looking for his second win and first since 2011. 6-under par, bogey-free, 66 today. Obviously you're playing well. Talk us through birdies on the day, please.

BRENDAN STEELE: Okay. I made birdie on No. 5. I hit driver, 7-iron. Didn't really hit a very good putt, but had an eagle putt from like 40 feet, ran it by 10 feet, made that coming back. So, the first one of the day.

Then, hit driver down there on 7 to just a short shot in. I got it on the top shelf on the back of the green where the pin was. Made a 15 foot putt there.

Then, 9 was a little bit unlikely, kind of pulled my approach long and left, made like a 35-footer out of the fringe down the hill. So that was a bonus and kind of gave me a little bit of momentum.

Had a good up-and-down from way short of the green on 10 for birdie.

Then hit one way left on 12 that I thought was out of play. Hit a provisional. Ended up with an open shot. Hit it to like three feet. Made birdie there.

Then a good shot on 16, 15, I guess, to about 10 feet there. Made birdie there.

THE MODERATOR: Talk a bit about your mentality when you hold a lead through 54 holes. Obviously, you've gone through it recently. What's your strategy when you sleep on a lead? Obviously, you don't hold it alone this time.

BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, I have had an interesting career, I guess, the way it always goes for guys out here.

But when I first got out here, I kind of won two in a row when I had the lead. Nationwide TOUR Championship in 2010 and Valero was really my first chance on TOUR. And I was thinking, man this is easy, this is no problem.

And then I was pretty comfortable at Frys and then it all started kind of spinning out of control for me and I didn't have a very good final round.

Learned a lot from it. Feel like I'm in a better place now, mentally. Trying to be a little bit more patient and a little bit more positive, not kind of put so much pressure on myself and just enjoy it a little bit more. Because it's not like it's going to be, hopefully, not the last time that I have a chance to win. So, you can't really look at it like it is your only chance. So that's kind of the problem.

THE MODERATOR: Give us some overall thoughts on the golf course. You played the par 5s very well this week so far.

BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, you really have to. There's four of them, which is a little bit rare for us on TOUR these days.

With two of them being really reachable, 3 and 5 being two holes that you feel like you really have to get.

10's a little tricky on the tee shot and tricky around the green.

And 18 they moved us up today, but normally it's a three shot hole for everybody. But you definitely have to try to grab a few there, two, three, four in a day, if you want to have a chance to have a really good round.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up to any questions.

Q. You talk about being patient. How have you managed to stay focused in the heat?
BRENDAN STEELE: Yeah, it's tough. You have to do a little bit of preparation, you have to kind of hydrate before you get out there and make sure you eat enough before you get out and while you're on the course, which is always tough. It's tough to eat when you're out there more than drink. So, that keeps your energy level up, keeps you a little bit more focused. So try to just stay on my normal eating regimen and try to get hydrated before I get out there and just always be drinking.

Q. What's the game plan for tomorrow?
BRENDAN STEELE: The scores are going to be low, as we have seen. Tournament record kind of scores so far. So you're going to have to shoot a really good round. There's still a lot of guys that can win, so just go out and keep doing everything that I've been doing and stay aggressive. I need make a lot of birdies and stay aggressive and patient, which is kind of a fine line, so just try to walk that line the best I can.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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