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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 3, 2016

Matt Kuchar

Dublin, Ohio

Q. Matt, your second consecutive 66. How did your play compare to yesterday?
MATT KUCHAR: Very similar. Playing good, steady golf. A lot of good shots, still playing nicely.

The conditions are still there for the taking. Again, very benign conditions. It's as easy as this place, I remember ever seeing it, even though greens still fast. You can get in the wrong spot, but you don't have to worry too much about the wind. The ball's going, great temperatures. It's fun to be out there playing and making some birdies around this place.

Q. We spoke yesterday about your brilliant record in this tournament. Outside of putting, which is obvious, what's the most important thing to do well to score well?
MATT KUCHAR: Driving well always tends to help. This place tends to have some pretty penalizing roughs and nasty fairway bunkers. From there, positioning it in the right place. Sometimes you have to be aggressive in the iron shots. You want to leave yourself uphill putts if possible.

Q. 10 of your last 11 rounds in the 60s. Obviously in contention this weekend. Three majors the next nine weeks. Just excited about the possibilities the next couple of months?
MATT KUCHAR: There's no time that you wouldn't want to be on good form. The golf season is long. You take good form at any time, but certainly I'm excited to be playing at the moment. There's a great stretch of golf coming up, and I'm hoping to continue the good play.

Q. I'm here with our co-leader, Matt Kuchar. Pair of 66s. No noticeable weaknesses in the game. You've got to be absolutely delighted.
MATT KUCHAR: I sure am. I've been in some great form. The last three weeks, all good solid finishes. Come in here and playing some good golf. Nice to keep it going.

Q. As a former winner here in 2013, obviously, the course suits your eye. Even though it's a fairly long course, precision is such an important part of this game, isn't it?
MATT KUCHAR: Sure. This course offers great variety. It's got long hard holes. It's got short holes. It's got short holes where, if you're on the wrong side, you can turn a short hole into an easy bogey or double bogey pretty quickly. So precision is key for sure. Here length is always an advantage. It's never not.

But you can get away with kind of picking and choosing your places to take advantage, and I've been doing a pretty good job of it this week so far.

Q. He's in his opening round, just one bogey today, and you combine that with 13 birdies here. Just how well in your mind have you been playing these last two days?
MATT KUCHAR: It's been good golf. It's nice, it's been kind of the last three weeks, four weeks now. It's been really good, steady, solid golf.

Today there were a lot of great shots. I had a couple of 3 woods (inaudible) on the par 5. Just really pleased. It's not often that a 3 wood comes off just right. To watch a long club just be struck perfectly, (inaudible). I just had to sit back. That was quite enjoyable.

The game has been good. It's been a fun couple days. Looking forward to a great weekend as well.

Q. You mentioned your recent trend. You've had four top 10s in the last five starts. Simply what has clicked for you over the last few weeks?
MATT KUCHAR: I feel like I've put it all together. The tough thing and the great thing about golf is there's so many facets of the game, so many pieces that need to come together for you to play well. It seems like some weeks the putter's hot but the driver's not. If you get them all clicking, it's great. And it feels like everything's coming along on good form now.

Q. Matt, just, obviously, in pretty good shape. Top of the leaderboard after a pair of 66s.
MATT KUCHAR: Yeah, my game's good. Thank you. Been playing good, solid, steady golf. It's been now -- it feels like it's my fourth week of really good golf. Hope to continue for a good weekend. Certainly, the start is great. I love this golf course. I love coming here. I've got great feelings, winning in 2013, but a lot of nice solid finishes. It's certainly been a nice Thursday, Friday start, and looking forward to a great weekend.

Q. How favorable is it right now, in your experience, the conditions right now?
MATT KUCHAR: The course is in fantastic shape, and conditions are as good as we'll ever see. Five miles an hour is the most we're kind of feeling of any wind. The temperature is up. The ball is going a good distance. The course is definitely gettable, but by the same token, it's going to penalize bad shots as well. Good shots are certainly rewarded, but the course always has enough out there as far as penalties, and bad shots go penalized here.

Q. When it's this benign, Matt, do you have to change your game plan or know that you have to go relatively low because everyone's going to be?
MATT KUCHAR: That's probably different for everybody. For me, the game plan is try to hit the fairway, try to hit a smart approach, and give yourself birdie putts. I never think it's smart to press Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I don't think pressing ever does you any good. Certainly, you know, to be in contention, that guys are going to shoot some good scores, but I never feel like you have to do six birdies in a round to try to be in contention.

Q. It seems like you're in the top 10 every year here. What is it about your game that goes so well with this course?
MATT KUCHAR: Hard to say. I certainly like it. I certainly -- I've had a great track record here. I feel like I play a little bit more aggressively off the tees. I'm not one of the longest hitters, but I pull driver more than most. I pull kind of a few more aggressive clubs off tees than maybe some guys do.

But it's funny, my track record on Jack Nicklaus courses and Pete Dye courses are pretty good. I don't know if -- they like kind of a high fade. Certainly, Nicklaus was that guy. My shot is a left-to-right ball. A lot of holes where I feel awfully comfortable teeing off out here.

Q. How critical was your up-and-down here at 9 to finish it the right way?
MATT KUCHAR: It's one shot. It's no fun to end on a bogey. But it was certainly not critical, but it a fun one to pull off. It was a really tough shot. It came out perfectly, and I even got a tip of the cap from Phil. That was nice to pull off a shot that even he was impressed by.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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